


The Wizarding Tanyama

by AlaianaPotter



Category: Ghost Hunt, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, HP Universe mostly, M/M, Meantions of neglect/abuse/abandonment, NON MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, harry gets adopted fic, pranking antics, sort of but not really 'New Maraders'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-17 03:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 36,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5851549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlaianaPotter/pseuds/AlaianaPotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter is abandoned by his no-good Muggle relatives on the streets of Tokyo, where he is found by a girl who calls herself Mai Taniyama. How will a boy savior raised in a different country without influence from his relations effect the fate of the wizarding world? Warning: This story may contain some minor swearing in different languages.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _Thinking/Reading_
> 
> _"Japanese"_
> 
> "English"

**Dated Nov. 12th 1986**

_Harry Potter, boy-who-lived, has been reported missing today. Albus Dumbledore, noted Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Potter's magical guardian after the imprisonment of Sirius Black was hear by this reporter saying, "Harry Potter must be found at once. He is a brilliant young man and a great asset to not only the wizarding community of Britain but the world at large," We at the Prophet must agree that the boy-who-lived must be found he is a national hero and a powerful wizard. It is our belief that the boy-who-lived's location was found out by remnants of the group of wizards known as 'Death Eaters' those men and women that terrorized the wizarding world under the ruling and direction of he-who-must-not-be-named, not much more than five years ago. We at the Prophet as well as the Minister of Magic and Albus Dumbledore implore the wizarding community to keep a look out for our young hero. Selena Skeeter (For more on Harry Potter turn to page 5)_

**Dated May 12th 1986**

Vernon Dursley was a very happy man at the moment. He was finally going to get rid of the damned freak, and no one was ever going to give him back to them, ha the plan was absolutely perfect and the best was that Petunia had already agreed. See Vernon Dursley was a very high up employee at Grunnings, a small drilling company that operated out of Surry, he had a perfectly normal family, his lovely wife, Petunia Dursley nee Evans, and his dashing son Dudley Dursley, but his family had one blight on the surface, Harry Potter, the freak who had gotten his parents blown up. As part of his job Vernon was asked to travel on occasion and now his company wished him to travel to Japan to finalize on a deal that had been in the works for months, and so it was that Vernon found his way home with a rather large grin on his face and a bounce in his step and Harry Potter knew that his life was going to get worse, much worse as the grin on the face of his uncle did not bode well for him. You see Harry Potter was a smart boy, he had figured out what his name was when he was four and found a box of his parents stuff when he was made to clean out the attic, since then he had slowly been smuggling the items in the box down to his cupboard bit by bit, moving the last item down only yesterday.

"Pet, Dudders, can you all come here please?" Vernon called out to his family as he entered the sitting room, though he need not have called as they were there and watching TV, though Petunia turned it off when she saw that her husband was practically bursting to tell them something. "We are going to Japan!" Vernon had a distinct note of excitement in his voice and a gleam in his eye that did not go unnoticed by his wife or the six-year-old boy that was stood in the corner, waiting on orders from the family to move. He was under no impressions that they would take him along with them and so what Vernon said next shocked not only Dudley and Petunia but Harry as well. "We are going to have to take the boy along as well, though as everyone that could watch him while we are away is sick and we can't leave him on his own."

Harry suppressed a shudder at the gleam in the eyes of his uncle when he looked at him, some instinct telling him that he was in for hell, and how right he was, how right he was indeed.

**Dated May 27th 1986**

Harry knew that something like this was going to happen, his so called 'family' had dumped him in an ally in Tokyo. Of course it just had to dump buckets on the poor boy, who knew that his family was long gone, they had left him after Vernon had closed the deal and hoped on a flight back to England, just real fantastic for Harry, who was currently sitting under an eve and trying to stay warm, at least he had been smart enough to pack all of his parent's stuff into a suitcase, and so had it with him, even his birth certificate. Who knew, maybe he could find the world that his parents had been a part of, the one that his mum's old journals had talked about, the world of magic and strange happenings.

_"Hello there,"_ The voice that spoke to Harry was that of a young girl, maybe around Harry's own age, though that was hard for him to tell as he was certain that he needed glasses, but his aunt and uncle had never gotten them for him. _"Why are you sitting in the rain?"_ There she went again, speaking to him presumably as there was no one else around and he was fairly certain she was looking at him but damn if only he spoke Japanese, then he wouldn't be giving her the 'deer caught in the headlights' look. The girl frowned at him, or he assumed that her face was scrunched up in a frown; it really was very hard to tell with everything all blurry as it was. _"Hey, kid, are you alright, you look really cold, can you hear me? Did something happen to you?"_ She fired off the questions rapidly as Harry's magic complied with his wish adding the knowledge of the words to his brain and ingraining the knowledge there to stay, activating that knowledge half way through her sentence and causing Harry to twitch slightly.

_"Sorry, but I spaced out there for a second, what were you saying?"_ Harry immediately put his new knowledge to work, figuring that maybe he had the same magic his mum did and that it worked to give him the knowledge he needed, possibly hoping this would help the boy to survive.

_"Oh, I was asking if you are ok and why you are all alone out here?"_ The as yet still unnamed girl blinked at him and he couldn't help but let a flicker of sadness cross his face.

_"My family left me here, they don't want me, never have, actually, but yeah I'm fine,"_ Ok yes, Harry had lied on the being fine part, and he actually had no idea why he had even mentioned the people that had left him here and he was too busy looking at the ground and scuffing a toe on the ground to notice that the girl had adopted a look of righteous indignation on his behalf.

_"Well that simply won't do, you're going to stay at my house at least until the rain stops!"_ And with that declaration behind her the girl pulled Harry up and dragged him off to her house.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking" (This will be in Japanese from this point on just as an FYI) __
> 
> _Thinking_

**Dated May 27th 1986: Japan**

"Ok so my name is Taniyama Mai, I'm 7 and I'll be starting in the first year of elementary school soon, when we get to my home you can meet my mom and my dad and maybe the neighbors if they are out!" the girl, Mai, babbled on in a rapid, bubbly tone that left our poor hero slightly confused as to how someone could talk so much and smile so bright when they were literally getting soaked to the bone by the deluge of rain.

"Oh my name is Harry Potter," He said blinking at her rapid speech and trying to process everything he had heard about her. "I will be 6 at the end of July."

Harry wondered for a second what parents were like, to have a mom and a dad or just people that cared about you, not abandon you on a cold, rainy street with only a bag that held too-big clothes and a journal that your mother kept during her days at a magic school. Not to mention the fact that until five minutes ago Harry could not speak or understand the language at all, but ah well, maybe he could find a nice family to take care of him here?

**Same day five minutes later…**

"…And that's why the sun rises in the east, where we are," Mai finished the story exuberantly a large grin on her face, her arms spread wide as if to show off the sun (that was still hidden behind heavy clouds though the rain was starting to let up a bit).

Harry had listened attentively and interjected with comments in the perfectly appropriate places, ohhing and ahhing when required and asking her to speak a bit slower when he did not quite catch something. As Mai made her last flourish of the story they stopped outside the gate of a house where a woman stood out on the porch looking around worriedly. A look of intense relief shone on her face as she caught sight of Mai, who was opening the gate and allowing Harry though, blissfully oblivious to the woman who had called her name somewhat softly as she continued to chatter away at Harry. That did not last long, however as the woman rushed up to the girl and swept her into a hug much to the amusement of said girl.

"Mom!" She exclaimed struggling out of the woman's hold and dragging a blushing Harry forwards. "Mom, meet my friend Harry! I found him alone on the street, he said his family did not want him anymore…can we keep him mommy, please?"

Mai had whispered the last part to her mother who shot a glance at the boy, before giving him a smile as bright as her daughter's "It's a pleasure to meet you Harry-kun, why don't you and Mai step inside and dry off? I can take your wet clothes and dry them for you, you can just wear one of my husband's spare shirts for now." She smiled as Mai dragged the boy into the house, instructing him on customs that were common in the household.

As soon as the children were a safe distance away Fumi Taniyama frowned, not liking how small the boy appeared though he with a slight accent that made her think of the few English speakers that had learned Japanese that she had meet over the years. She also did not like that Mai had said he had been abandoned, as her daughter had always had excellent instincts. Who in their right mind would abandon a child in the rain on the streets of a large city? Honestly, the nerve of some people! Ah, well, nothing she should worry about right now, after all he was off the street now and Mai's father would be home soon to discuss this matter, but for now she had two children to entertain.

**Dated May 29th 1986: Japan**

Harry had spent two days in bliss at the Taniyama residence, both Fumi and Genji Taniyama had taken to the boy, and Genji had begun to search out the boy's relatives, using some of his contacts through the government and business partners overseas. If he had anything to say about it young Harry Potter would be living with him and his family, and a certain family *cough*Dursley*cough* would find that they were not above the law, to neglect a child like they had and leave him in an entirely separate country than the one that he belonged in! The nerve of some people!

He smiled as he peeked into the room where his daughter and their guest were reading some texts. Mai was telling Harry all about school and Genji secretly hoped that maybe the boy could go to school alongside his daughter. _After all it's not exactly like his family will want to put him through school, or even be able to take him back if I have anything to say about it._ He smirked slightly at the thought and turned away from the children as the phone rang and Fumi softly called out that it was for him.

"Hello," He spoke in a soft tone, smiling as he heard the children laughing in the other room.

"Oh, Mr. Taniyama, hi it's May from child services in England, I'm terribly sorry to bother you at home and so lat into the day, but we found that information you requested on a Mr. Harry Potter…" The woman on the other end of the line spoke fluent Japanese and seemed to talk rather fast, even as she trailed off.

"Ah, yes this time is fine, what did you find out on him?"

"Mr. Potter went on a trip with his family to Japan, they left on May 13th and on May 28th his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin returned, some of the police force here took them in quietly after your tip off and they investigated the boy's home. There they found that the boy had been stuck in a cupboard under the stairs, we would ask that you bring Mr. Potter to England with you on your next trip to finalize some things over on our end. I took the liberty of pushing papers through on your end regarding Mr. Potter, as a standard procedure of course."

"Very well, I understand," Genji's voice was soft as he glanced at the two children as they ran to wash up for supper, "I will be in England for a few days on some business next month I will bring him by and the papers that I need as well, thank you for your help May-San."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking"-Japanese
> 
> "Talking"-English
> 
> _Thinking_

**Dated May 31** **st** **1986**

Harry was now on day four in his stay at Mai's home. The Taniyama household was a very welcoming one, even when yesterday Harry's freakishness had shown its ugly head.

_Flashback:_

_Harry was sitting with Mai watching an episode of Scooby-Doo, both of them trying to guess who it was that had done it._

_"It's the security guard!" Harry stated, watching the reaction of the girl next to him who was frowning and shaking her head slightly._

_"No it's the grounds keeper! I mean look at him he's so creepy," her statement was full of as much passion as the girl had in any other aspect of life._

_"Creepy means nothing! It's the guard, I guarantee it!" Harry declared with just as much passion as the slightly older girl._

_"No it's the grounds keeper!"_

_"No, it's not!"_

_"Yes, it is!"_

_"No!"_

_"Yes!"_

_"No!"_

_By now the two children were face to face and standing, leaning in towards each other._

_"Yes!"_

_"No!"_

_With that last no from Harry the lights flickered and the furniture shook a bit, as if wanting to lift up from the floor. Immediately both children forgot their argument, Harry had a horrified look on his face and Mai looked confused, and somewhat scared, having let out a small, strangled scream when the furniture had shook._

_Genji had heard his daughter scream and ran into the room to find that his daughter was holding a shaking Harry who was sobbing "I'm sorry" over and over again and refused to say anything else for a good ten minutes before calming down and telling him the story. Genji had smiled at the end and explained about PK and that he might have it, he would have to wait a while though to truly find out as the expert that Genji knew lived in England and that they would go see him when Genji went there on business._

_End Flashback_

Harry smiled at the memory of the day, he had found out that he was not a freak and that there were in fact other kids out there that could use this PK stuff, though Harry wasn't sure if PK could actually do some of the things he had done, like when his hair had grown back over night after the horridly awful haircut that Aunt Petunia had given him that one time, but he want going to mention that anytime soon, no need to change their minds and make them think that he was a freak after all.

Currently Harry and Mai were sitting in the spare room that Harry had been given, both children were looking at the clothes that seemed to have exploded out of the small wardrobe, along with some stuffed animals and a couple of books, most of which had been Harry's parents, the same ones that he had found in the box in the attic.

"Ok, you will defiantly need to take the wolf with you," Mai said, holding up a stuffed grey timber wolf. "He's going to be your protector while your back in England with daddy, that way I know my little brother is safe."

Harry smiled as Mai called him her little brother, she had started to do that when he had mentioned that he had no siblings, just like her and so she had decided that they would be each other's siblings, something that Harry had taken to quite quickly. He took the wolf and placed it into a small rucksack that already had a number of clothes and books inside of it.

"So we have clothes, some books that will help me learn to write the Japanese characters and get this language down more and the wolf that I think should be called moony, ummm anything else?" Harry said looking around the explosion of mess on the floor. Mai just shook her head and bounced up dragging Harry with her and out of the room.

"Harry, are you all packed to go?" Genji smiled at the young boy who nodded his head and held up the bag that he and Mai had packed, the wolf plushy was held in his other hand. "Very good, now you two don't forget to put everything back into its place before supper. We are leaving for the airport at 7 so we can get our flight at 9."

Both children nodded, dropping the bag and the plushy and running back into the room so that they could stuff everything unceremoniously into their proper places before racing each other to the bathroom sink to wash their hands before supper.

**Same Day 6:45 pm**

"Harry, come on, have you got your bag? What about your wolf?" Fumi worried over the boy, pulling the light rain jacket that she had found for him closer to his body. Harry nodded and then looked at Mai who was standing off to the side a little behind her mother, he knew that her father was already behind him at the door.

"Mai!" Harry launched himself at the girl and wrapped her in a hug, "Don't miss me too much k?"

His simple statement caused the three named Taniyamas to smile, Mai wearing the biggest smile of all. "I won't as long as you promise to come back as my new brother."

Harry scrunched up his face a little in thought before taking her hand and shaking it saying as he did so, "Deal."

With that as a parting Harry ran to the door and climbed into the car that Genji would use to drive them to the airport.

**Dated June 1** **st** **1986**

The flight to England was absolutely uneventful except for a bit of turbulence about halfway through, but that passed quickly and their flight arrived exactly on time as expected. Both of them had hailed a cab to their hotel and collapsed into bed, sleeping until their wakeup call at 8am the next morning. Both males dressed in silence and went down to breakfast.

"Ok, now Harry today we are going to go to the office for the child services, we talked about this a bit while we were in Japan and you know that Fumi and I wish to adopt you, meaning that Mai would be your big-sister and you would be able to take the last name 'Taniyama' is this ok with you?" Genji asked looking at the little boy who sat across from him at the breakfast table.

"Yes sir," Harry said back, concentrating on pouring syrup onto his pancakes without spilling out too much, "I would like to keep my parents name though, I think it would honor them greatly. "Harry looked up at the man before him who had a small smile on his face and nodded his head, understanding was written in his face.

"There is no need to call me 'sir' Harry, you can call me Genji or Dad if you want to."

Harry studied the man before him, noting that there was no sarcasm in his words, there was no hidden meaning to the words that he should be wary of, just an openness that, despite staying with the Taniyama family and getting to know them in their open and friendly nature, he still did not expect from adults or even other children.

"Ok then, dad, umm do you think the child services people will know where my parents are buried at…I wish to pay my respects to them if that isn't too much trouble that is…" the end of the sentence trailed off and the little boy that had spoken the words looked down at the table, only to find himself wrapped in a hug by the older man.

"Harry, you don't have to fear that I would keep that information from you, if they know where your parents are laid to rest I promise you that we will go visit them and that we will bring them a little gift as well," Genji murmured the words to the boy and hugged him just a few seconds longer before turning and facing him. "Alright, now we are done eating, why don't we head out and talk to the case manager?"

His question received a nod from the boy and the pair stood up and left the dining room, heading out into the city to go to the office for child services.

**Same Day about an hour later**

Harry was sat next to Genji on a rather uncomfortable chair in-front of the wide oak desk of the case manager for his custody. The woman on the other side of the desk from them was a bubbly creature who spoke both Japanese and English fluently, right now the interview was being conducted in Japanese, so that things didn't get too lost in translation as Genji's English was not the best that it could be.

"Ok, so Mr. Taniyama we have covered already that you want to adopt Harry, now we have come across a few trunks that have the names 'Lilly Evans-Potter' and 'James Potter' on them, as well as a note saying that they are for Harry. We found them when we were investigating the Dursley household, we would like to give them to Mr. Potter here, and be assured that we haven't taken anything out of them and have left them exactly as we found them," She smiled at the look that Harry gave Genji and the slight nod that the man gave in response.

"I think having the trunks sent to back to Japan when we leave would be a nice thing for Harry. Now we do have one more question for you before we finalize the rest of the paperwork," Genji waited for a nod of the head before he continued. "Would you happen to know the location of Harry's parent's graves? Both he and I would like to pay our respects to them."

"Ah, they are buried in the churchyard of a town called Godric's Hollow, I will give you the address when we finish up the meeting here." For the next hour Harry was left sitting bored out of his head as the adults went through the paperwork, filling out all the required fields and boxes. "Ok Mr. Taniyama, I just need you to sign right here and then we will be done for today. I will have the trunks shipped to Japan in a week's time, thank you for coming all this way and we will be in touch next month for a standard checkup. You both have a great day now and here is the address that you wanted."

Genji took the slip of paper with the address for the church in the little town of Godric's Hollow. "Thank you ma'am please have a pleasant day," he said to the woman with a slight bow before he and Harry left the building.

**Three hours later, Godric's Hollow**

Harry and Genji walked into the little town of Godric's Hollow, heading immediately into the graveyard behind the church. Genji held onto Harry's hand as the passed by some of the older graves that were closer to the church. Harry paused before one, his head tilted to one side as he picked out the name on the weathered stone.

IGNOTUS PEVERELL

The name was so weathered and beaten that it was very hard to make out, but Harry still could read the worn letters. He squinted down at the stone noting the strange symbol underneath of it, a triangle with a vertical line through it and a circle in the middle of it. For some reason Harry felt that this symbol was important, but he didn't know why…he felt as if it had something to do with his parents, but how or why he had this feeling was yet to be determined.

"Harry, are you alright?" Genji asked, a touch of concern in his voice as he saw his adoptive son staring intently at an older grave.

"There is something about this grave, I feel like it's important somehow, important to my family, my birth family, but I'm not sure how or what…is it possible to do research on that marking right there?" Harry looked up at Genji quickly, before looking back at the grave and pointing at the symbol that was carved there.

Genji opened his mouth to respond but another voice cut over his. "I see that you have an interest in one of our oldest graves," both Harry and Genji turned to meet the sight of an old man leaning on a walking stick, his eyes sliding past the two living people to the grave behind them. "Ignotus Peverell is rumored to have been a wizard back when he was alive, and a powerful one at that too."

"Sir?" Harry looked at the wizened old man before him and his father, his eyes had gone glassy with thought, though when harry spoke up he snapped back to a more normal state of mind. "Umm, do you know anything about that marking that's here on his grave?"

"Oh, that, it seems a lot of folks come to look at that mark, they never think to ask what I know about it, no they all just babble about something called the 'Deathly Hallows' bah, bunch of nutters they are," the old man muttered before smiling at the boy before him. "Some people here say that Ignotus was a practice of magic, but they never did anything about that, but that's actually understandable, see this village here is said to have been founded by a wizard. Ignotus was undeniably brilliant, I heard from my grandmother that he and his two brothers created a trio of incredibly powerful items. She told me that the items when joined together by their true master, the one that is descended of all three brothers, then they will give that person incredible power over life and death, but with that power comes great responsibility, and also the man or woman who holds that power should be wary of it, for death is not something that should be played with for he will eventually wish to claim you to. Be warned boy, take too much interest in that symbol and you too might be consumed with the want for power, pay no heed to what others wish to tell you and you live your life like you want to." The man had pointed at the grave and the two other living people followed the line of his finger to look at the symbol once more. When they turned back to ask the mysterious old man a question he was gone, with no sign of him anywhere among the low graves.

"That was very strange…" Genji murmured, pulling Harry away from the grave, the two of them moved away from the older graves and finally happened across the graves that the ware looking for. It was a beautifully kept white marble headstone, the words on the stone were easy to read and it was obvious that at least one person had visited it recently as there was a small wreath of flowers before it. Harry knelt down by the grave, laying the flowers that he and Genji had brought with them on the grave between his mother and father's names, reading the inscription that was there as he did so.

JAMES POTTER LILY POTTER  
BORN 27 MARCH 1960 BORN 30 JANUARY 1960  
DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981 DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981

THE LAST ENEMY THAT SHALL BE DESTROYED IS DEATH.

"That's a rather cryptic but oddly fitting," Genji murmured, just watching his son as he spoke softly to his parents, telling them about his life so far and that he had found a new family in Japan but he would try his best to visit them whenever he could. After about an hour had passed Harry stood up and grabbed Genji's hand.

"Let's go home dad," he said looking up at the man who nodded a small smile on his face as he left the gravesite with his son in tow.

Unknown to the two the old man that they had spoken to earlier had watched the two from his place in the other plane, a small smile on his lips as he watched the young boy speak to his parents, telling them about his life so far. "You have had a hard life lad, but with your new home and family you will truly have the strength for the fight that lays in your future and I shall be there to help you along the way. The manipulations of that old man stop here and now, all you have to do if find your strength to grow."

The words he spoke held an air of finality and power about them as he watched the father-son duo leave the grave yard. "Brother do you mean that this lad here is the one?" a voice murmured out of the mists that seemed ever present in this plane. "This boy is to be the one that inherits our legacy? Are you certain brother, our items are scattered and the stone will be hardest to handle, what with that bastard tying his soul to the mortal realm using it."

"We will deal with that when the time is right, for now we will let Harry Potter grow up, his fate can change the entire outcome of the war."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking"
> 
> _'Talking' – Ghosts/non-human_
> 
> _Thinking_

**Dated June 28** **th** **1986**

Harry smiled at his sister as she ran through the rain, splashing in the puddles that were gathering in the natural dips and hollows in the gravel pathway that led up to their home. Their mother was already in the house and was watching her two children with amusement clearly written on her face. Harry and Mai were laughing and splashing though when a peel of thunder went through the air both children ran for the house, smiles still wide and giggles filling the damp air as they ran.

"Mom, that school was awesome, they even said that Mai could attend too!" Harry smiled up at the woman he had taken to calling 'mom'. The small family had gone to visit an exclusive elementary school for children like Harry, that is children who had magical powers. The school had standing in both the magical and muggle worlds, offering classes that would help a magical child born to non-magical parents to adjust to the magical world, teaching them subjects like history and culture. The same treatment was available to the children born in the magical community. The school was even thoughtful enough to offer places to the siblings of children from non-magical families, farther increasing the tolerance that the two worlds had of each other. Needless to say as everyone in magical Brittan was well aware that Harry Potter was a magical child and at the age of one he had defeated the dark lord, and they had made no secret to the magical communities around that he was their hero. Needless to say that when Harry was informed of this he was shocked beyond all reasoning, but being able to see the school that he was offered a place at, as well as where his sister was also invited to go helped to ease his worry that his new family would reject him for what he was.

Both Harry and Mai would be transferring into the school with the start of the new term in the spring. Both children were very excited about being able to go to school together and that Harry was able to share all of his magical history and culture classes with Mai if she wanted to take them was an added bonus. Their parents were also intrigued by the fact that the school offered a crash course in practical things like politics, currency and the state of the economy in the magical community of Japan. These factors as well as being able to visit the school in person and meeting with the headmistress and a few of the staff for both magical and muggle subjects, both of which were taught at the school.

"Yes Harry, that school was awesome, now you to go run off and get cleaned up for supper," Fumi said in her strictest 'mom voice' which wasn't all that strict really, but both children ran off to get cleaned up for their evening meal.

**Dated July 31** **st** **1986**

The day of Harry's seventh birthday dawned bright and clear. Not a cloud could be seen in the sky and the two children of the Taniyama household woke early with excitement written in their eyes. Today Genji and Fumi had promised a little trip to a lovely lakeside where they would be able to have a lovely picnic lunch and spend some much needed time with their two children. Understandably Harry was the more excited of the two as he had never properly celebrated his birthday before, and now he was able to do so without abandon or reservations, that Mai pouncing on him as a wakeup call and shoving a small, badly wrapped present in his face had him all the happier. The wrapping paper was torn off of the little gift quickly after a bit of encouragement from Mai, revealing a small stone, painted bright orange with black lettering in their mother's neat hand.

"It's a good luck charm, I made it, well I made it with help from mom, she wrote the names on there, in Japanese and in English, it has all of our names on it, oh do you like it?" Harry had been staring at the stone apparently for a long time for Mai to sound so worried about what his reaction would be. Looking up from the stone Harry smiled and hugged his sister, stopping her from worrying her bottom lip with her teeth as a smile spread across the faces of both children.

"I love it, thank you, now I can have a piece of all of you with me forever," Harry smiled and then pushed Mai gently off his bed. "Now get out, I need to get dressed and I am not changing in-front of my sister."

Mai giggled at the scrunched up face that Harry was making at her before leaving the room, closing the door behind her and skipping off to the kitchen where her mother was up and getting a small breakfast together for the family. Soon enough Harry and Genji emerged from their respective rooms and the family gathered for a quick breakfast and then were out of the house and on the road to the small lakeside that was their planned destination for today.

Harry and Mai tumbled out of the car as soon as it parked, each with a small bit for their picnic. Harry had a folded blanket that they could either sit on or spread on one of the few picnic tables that were around. Mai had a tote bag with the plates and cutlery.

"You two give those here and go off an play," Fumi said to the two excited children, holding her hand out for the blanket and bag, which the children gave to her before giggling and running off, starting a game of two-man tag.

Harry smiled as he chased after his sister, laughing a bit when he tagged her. "Tag, you're it," he panted slightly before shooting off in a new direction, Mai chasing after him.

"Ahh," The soft sound of a rustle signaled that Mai had tripped, causing Harry to turn and jog back towards her. "H-harry," Mai's eyes were wide with fear, and as Harry drew nearer to her he could see why. Close by his sister was a hissing snake, its back was an olive-drab color black and bright orange breaking up the green. The black stripes traveled all the way down to the end of its tail while the orange faded out about halfway down. Harry could see that the snake was mad and his sister was terrified, so he did the only thing that he could think of, he spoke to the snake.

_'Calm down, we aren't going to hurt you, and we did not mean to intrude on you or hurt you in anyway,'_ Harry noted distantly that his words sounded like hissing in his own ear, and that Mai was looking at him with wide eyes.

_'Calm down the speaker says, calm down? Really, how do you expect me to calm down, speaker, when this hatchling goes and trys to crush my nest?'_ The snake sounded irritable and very much like a woman to his mind.

_'She did not try to crush your nest, she tripped and fell down, neither of us knew that you were there, and you do know that harming a human hatchling would cause a lot of problems for you ma'am.'_

_'Humph, I suppose that you are right young speaker, but be careful, there are more dangerous snakes than I around, so be warned.'_

_'Thank you for that and may I ask what kind of snake you are? I do like snakes a lot,'_ Harry smiled at the snake as Mai stood up slowly and backed away from the snake, looking between it and Harry.

The snake seemed to consider the boy before her, taking no notice of the girl that was slowly edging away from her. _'I believe that the humans know me as a Tiger Keelback, or more locally as the yamakagashi.'_

Harry and Mai watched at the snake slithered away after Harry hissed a last thank you at her.

"What was that all about? And how on earth did you do that?" Mai asked, sounding rather incredulous and looking at her brother. Harry just gave her a look and raised an eyebrow. "Right, magic, duh."

"Come on, let's go back to Mom and Dad," Harry smiled as the slight frown that had marred his sisters face lifted and the two children raced back to the adults to tell them about their adventure today.

**Dated April 27** **th** **1988**

Harry and Mai sat in their individual class rooms at Parkview Elementary Harry in the third year's class and Mai in the fourth year's. Both of them were excited because today their father was supposed to get home from a trip with his ghost-hunting team. They had been out to an abandoned old mansion that the owners were trying to get habitable again by remodeling, only the work had to stop because of a poltergeist.

"Potter-san, you are asked to go to the teacher's office," Greene-sensei, the teacher for the optional English class for those students whose parents wished them to start learning English before Junior high and High school levels, said to him after taking the paper that had been delivered to her. "You might want to bring your things with you as well, you don't know how long they will keep you there," her voice was gentle at the second part of the sentence as she looked at the boy that had become a sort of assistant for her in her classes. Harry just nodded and headed off to the teacher's office. He could not help but feel that this had something to do with his father.

When Harry entered the office he saw that Mai was standing there, looking incredibly confused as to what was going on and felt a sense of dread rise up in him much like a snake about to strike at him. Mai looked at him with eyes that held a fear to them that he could understand, and he knew that that fear was reflected in his eyes. Both children immediately drew closer to each other, drawing comfort from each other like they had on so many other occasions. Harry was the type to stay calm in a situation, as proven by his cool head when he and Mai had encountered the Tiger Keelback on his first birthday celebrated in Japan, Mai was the type to panic at first, but to look at a situation in an optimistic way.

Facing the teacher before them, and seeing that their mother was there as well, eye red and puffy from tears the two felt neither calm and collected nor cheerful and optimistic about the situation. Harry could gather from the tears that his adoptive mother was still shedding silently that something had happened to his adoptive father, Mai came to the same conclusion, though she through a natural empathy she had with the world at large.

"Oh, Harry, Mai," Fumi knelt down in front of her two rather petite children to be at eyelevel with them as she broke the news to the eight and nine year olds. "There was an accident as your father was coming home with his team. The roads down from the mountain were wet and the other driver was drunk." A soft sob escaped the woman and Mai rushed forwards hugging her mother as Harry looked at her, silent tears sliding down his cheeks. To hear what had happened so far had ripped at his heart as he could guess what the fate of his father and quite possibly his father's team and even the other driver would be as he knew those roads, and how dangerous they could be, his family having summered there one year. "Oh children, they got hit, and their van swerved, it went over the edge, and your father, they said…they said that he died instantly, he didn't suffer at all," Another sob interrupted the story and both children could tell that their mother was trying hard to be strong for her children, who were now both hugging her, both of their bodies shaking with the force of their sobs. "Oh, Harry, Mai, no one survived, and, well, we are going to help honor them all, oh my children I wish that this had not happened to you or to the other families." Fumi broke down completely now, hugging her two precious children that were all she had left of her husband, of her life before that drunk driver had taken the only man that she had ever truly loved away from her. She had to be strong though, she had to fight through this for the two children that she held in her arms and who in turn were clinging to her and to each other for support.

**Dated May 5** **th** **1988**

The funeral for Genji was a small affair that was for friends and family only. Mai and Harry stood close to each other as they listened to the proceedings of the ceremony in silence. Both they and their mother showed signs of days and nights spent crying at random times. All of the members of the gathered people had tears in their eyes as the listened to the eulogy. Fumi was standing tall behind her children though anyone could see the tears that slid silently down her face. Before her children were huddled close together, tears also sliding down their faces. Mai had her head buried in Harry's shoulder as she sobbed, her brother had his arms around her, hugging her and rocking gently from side to side in a vain attempt to calm both himself and her down.

**Dated August 5** **th** **1988**

The now reduced Taniyama family had moved from their old home into a smaller one a bit closer to the school that Harry and Mai went to. They had felt that their old home held too much sorrow and memories, and so had found a smaller home to live in. Fumi had reverted back to a bit of a 'fun mom' after a time, though it was clear to anyone that this was a woman who had known suffering and that she was only really putting in the effort for the two children that could be seen with each other at all times.

Harry and Mai had taken a long time to get back to their old selves again and really Harry was never quite the same. He threw himself upon his studies more than normal, and took to reading in his spare time, as well as helping his sister with her English work that she had picked up.

Fumi would often times feel a sharp pang in her chest where her heart was in physical pang of grief for her lost love, though she never let on to her children that her heart had a void where Genji used to be. A void that would slowly kill her with a grief and depression that was far worse than anything that a dementor could inflict on a person. It was a grief born of losing the man that could be called her soul her one true love, and the only reason that she pushed on through it was for the sake of her children, the children that she feared would never truly recover if they were to lose another parent so soon after the first.

**Dated December 25** **th** **1988**

The first Christmas without Genji was the hardest, and the family of three almost decided not to celebrate it at all had it not been for Alana Greene, Harry and Mai's English teacher. She had taken it upon herself to make sure that the family was doing fine after the incident. It was she who came to the family on Christmas day and dragged them out for some fun and games. Harry and Mai could be seen with true smiles on their faces for the first time in a long time and Fumi would even wear a small smile of her own, not a true one, as those had died with her husband, but still a happy smile. So while the first Christmas without Genji was hard the family with the help of Greene-sensei got through it and even managed to have some fun as well.

**Dated March 14** **th** **1989**

Fumi was deteriorating, and Harry and Mai knew it. The overwhelming grief that had followed her since the death of her husband nearly a year ago was catching up to her. She had lost weight and Harry and Mai knew that she may not make it. Greene-sensei had taken to visiting them almost daily, to make sure that they had everything that they needed and that Fumi was as comfortable as she could be. Some days were better than others for Fumi, with her being able to shuffle around the house and help the children with their homework, today was not one of those days, no, today was one of the worst days so far actually.

It had started out on a good note, Fumi had gotten up and even been able to cook for her family. When Greene-sensei had come over she had smiled and even had a bit of conversation with Fumi. The two adults had sent the children outside then, telling them that they should enjoy this nice spring day. They had not even been out of the house for an hour before the wailing sirens of an ambulance could be heard and Greene-sensei had rushed out of the house.

"Harry, Mai, oh god, it's awful, your mum, she collapsed and I couldn't manage to wake her, oh I'm so sorry, but the ambulance is coming now and they will help her," she was in full on panic mode as she looked into the wide green eyes of Harry and the wide brown of Mai, both children abandoned their games in favor of sprinting for their mother, both hoping that she was still alive, that she hadn't left them on their own and would fight through this just like all the other days that had been bad, where she had been so sick with sorrow that she was not able to move.

**Dated May 17** **th** **1989**

The day broke with sadness, Harry and Mai had now lost a second parent, well fourth in Harry's case, but he did not really count the first time as they had been murdered before he was really old enough to remember them properly, though he did remember flashes of green light and maniacal laughter. Fumi had been able to battle through a little over two months before she did not have the strength to go on anymore. Her last words to her children had had the whole room in tears.

"Be good, be safe, and be kind. My precious children do not cry for me as I am going to see your father, do not pity me, for I have known that I have been fading, please my darling children do not dwell on grief, be strong for me, for each other and I will see you when you are grown up and have grandchildren and not a moment sooner," her words were broken and her children were in tears as they watched her fading from them, "My children, be strong, for each other and for me, show me a smile, one last time, so I can have that as I go to see your father, to tell him how strong you two are, and how strong you will continue to be into the future."

The two children took in shuddering breaths and put small smiles on their faces for their mother, whose eyes grew distant and misty, with tears and memories.

"There are my strong children, remember be kind to others, be safe and don't go looking for trouble and be good so that you can set an example for others around you," as the last words left her lips Fumi seemed to relax into the hospital bed beneath her, her eyes sliding shut as she moved on to the next great adventure. For all the world she looked as if she were sleeping, her breath leaving her body quietly and an air of peace filling every premature line on her face.

Greene-sensei had heard the entire thing, and had tears in her eyes for the woman that she had helped to support for this past year. She had been asked by Fumi before she passed to take care of her children, and that was something that she would gladly do, she may not have known the woman as long as some others, but she had come to care for her and her children. Yes she had decided, she would care for and protect the children until such time as they did not want her to or they did not require her to.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking"-Japanese
> 
> "Talking"-English
> 
> _Thoughts_

**Dated July 27** **th** **1991**

Harry and Mai had been living with Greene-sensei for about two years or so now and with her help they had regained the attitudes that they had before the death of their parents. Mai was just as bubbly, if not more so, and Harry was just as quiet, brave and calm as before. Both children knew that as Harry's 11th birthday drew nearer that he would probably be getting a letter from the British school of magic, Hogwarts. He was already enrolled in the Japanese school system though, so even if he did not receive a letter or decided to stay in Japan he would still be getting a quality education.

At precisely 11:00 am there came a knock at the door to the apartment where they lived with Greene-sensei. Harry looked up from where he was finishing up a Sudoku puzzle, Mai looked up from making some tea and Alana Greene stood up from reading the newspaper on the couch in her living room, smiling at the two other people who occupied her apartment with her.

"Hello, my name is Professor Flitwick, I have been informed that a Mr. Harry Potter is in residence here, may I speak to him please?" The man at the door, for it was undoubtedly a man there, had a squeaky sounding voice and after doing a quick analysis of what could cause that, other than a large amount of helium, Harry figured that the professor would be rather short.

He was not disappointed when after the words, "Oh yes, please do, please follow me to the kitchen and we can get you a nice cup of tea while we chat," a rather very short man walked into the room after Alana. Mai smiled at the short man, pulling down an extra tea cup and adjusting the amount of tea for the new person.

"You are here from Hogwarts aren't you?" Harry asked after a short stretch of silence had passed as the tea was made and set out before each individual gathered for this meeting. "If you are then that means that you are probably of British decent, correct? If it is not offensive to you may I ask you how you know Japanese so well? And why there is only a bare hint of an accent, forgive me if I offend, but most native English speakers have troubles with eastern languages."

The professor smiled at the inquisitive boy across from him, he was obviously intelligent, going from the questions that he asked others. "The answer to your question Mr. Potter is that I am using a temporary language and cultural knowledge charm. This charm allows me to absorb the language and culture of a specific place so as to better understand them, however it only allows me to do this for about a day or so before the charm wears off," Flitwick smiled at the thoughtful look on the boy's face as he processed the information.

"Hmm, it sounds similar, I do wonder if that's a bit like what happened…" Harry muttered the words to himself, a habit he had when trying to figure out a particularly difficult task or problem. Mai and Alana just rolled their eyes at the boy's antics, watching the amused professor watch the pre-teen that was seated at the table across from him.

"Harry," Mai spoke in a warning voice as Harry retreated farther back into his own mind. Harry immediately snapped out of it and looked at her, eyes wide and a somewhat guilty expression on his face, as if he had been caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of that day when we were kids, you know when you found me lost in the rain?" Harry said this quietly to Mai who smiled and ruffled his hair.

Flitwick watched the two with interest, smiling at the way that they interacted with each other. "I must say that I am not all that surprised that you don't have more questions about Hogwarts, I'm usually bombarded by now with curiosity."

Alana is the one who spoke up this time. "Yes well you see, here in Japan we have a specialized Elementary, Middle and High school for children that are magical. It allows students of both muggle and magical families to make connections to each other and learn about the communities of both worlds. We also allow places in the school for the siblings of muggle born or muggle raised children, so that they can build an appreciation and respect for what their siblings do. Harry and Mai both went there for elementary school and I teach the English and Latin courses there." Harry and Mai nodded at what she had said, smiles on their faces, they had both gone to the school and so knew what was going on in the Wizarding world, as well as the fame that Harry held.

"I would like to know if Harry will be able to travel home for breaks or if he will have to stay at the school. Also how would he be getting there and back?" Mai sat down across from Flitwick after placing some tea before everyone at the table. She had a gaze leveled on the man as the other two inhabitants of the apartment also looked at Flitwick.

"Well we can get you to Diagon Alley with a portkey and get your shopping done there or we can see about getting some of your supplies while we are here," Flitwick smiled as he said all this, watching as Harry and Mai thought over what he was saying.

"Would I be taking a portkey to the school as well or is there some other form of transportation for that?" Harry asked looking up at little man across from him. "I know that the students leave for school on the first of September, but I'm not sure how they get there."

"The students get to school by taking the Hogwarts Express. It leaves form platform nine and three quarters, located in King's Cross Station. You can find the platform by crossing the barrier between platforms nine and ten," The explanation by the professor was simple and to the point, in short perfect for Harry, Mai and Alana to understand. "If you are agreeable to go to Hogwarts for the next seven years of your education I would be more than happy to show you how to get onto the platform and into the alley Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled politely at the man who had been nothing but helpful in his explanations so far. "If you do not mind sir I would appreciate it if I might excuse myself and my sister to talk over what options I have. I trust her counsel on this and will be right back with my answer for you," Harry and Mai both waited for the affirmative from the adults, which was given in the form of a nod before getting up from the table and retreating into the living room for some privacy.

"I must say you are taking all this rather well Professor Flitwick. I was worried when Harry got his letter that it would be someone who would loose their head over the chance to speak to the 'boy-who-lived' it makes me quite happy to see that he can be treated normally," Alana said after a sip of her tea, glancing sidelong at the man beside her. He just smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he sipped his own tea.

"The Headmaster wished to send our groundskeeper to speak to young Mr. Potter, but our Deputy Headmistress quickly got rid of that notion when she saw that Mr. Potter had been living in Japan since he was six. We do offer places to children from other countries if they have had a parent or parents that have gone to Hogwarts, in these cases it is usually myself or one of the other senior staff that goes to see these children."

"I see that is actually a good system to have."

The two adults lapsed into silence as the listened to the quiet mummers from the living room.

**With Mai and Harry**

"I think you should go Harry, I heard while we were in school that the British wizards think of you as a hero. If you stay here in Japan the idiots that run that country might think you are being kept here by force," Mai said this all in a rush as soon as they were far enough away from the adults. Harry only lifted one brow in a prompt for her to explain herself. "Ok look, we know that on Halloween of 1981 an evil wizard invaded the home where you and your parents were. Said evil wizard then cast the spell known as 'the killing curse' on first your father and then your mother. That much is obvious to even us. Now it is assumed by the wizards of Britain that he then cast that same curse on you, leaving the scar that you have on your head there. It is also assumed that the curse rebounded on the evil wizard, thus killing him…"

"Mai what does this have to do with whether or not I decide to go to the school?" Harry interrupted his sister who glared at him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I was getting to that hold on, geeze," She lapsed into a string of muttered words that Harry tuned out. "Ok as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted. On that night you were taken from the house and then placed with your aunt and uncle. The British wizards have hailed you as a hero and presume that the evil wizard is dead. But if you remember when we started at our school we got physicals, both muggle and magical in case there was anything wrong with us? Anyway, when that happened they found out that you had a curse on your scar and the goblins that work at the branch of the Wizarding bank here had to do a ritual to get the curse out and it turned out to be a part of a soul and dad got so mad that he wanted to go an punch the wizards of Britain in the nose?" Mai and Harry paused here to smile at the memory of Genji ranting about the stupidity of not checking a child over for curses when they had been hit with some of the foulest magic known to man. "Well what if that bit of soul was that evil wizards? That means that he probably isn't dead and I have this feeling that you need to be in England."

Harry sighed and thought about what Mai had said. He remembered quite clearly the outrage of his father and the healers that had done his examination. He remembered that after that he and Mai had read anything that related to curses and possessions. "Your instincts are rarely ever wrong, but Mai you said that the government of Britain might think that I was being forced to stay here what makes you think that?"

Mai just gave him her patented 'are you kidding me' look before explaining what she had meant by it. "Well you remember how we learned that Britain does not have the best foreign relations at the moment because of their unwillingness to accept changes in society and their attitude towards muggles and muggleborns and how a lot of the muggleborns will leave Britain to look for jobs elsewhere?" Mai waited until Harry gave a slight nod before continuing with her explanation. "Well it stands to reason that if their attitude is like that and their national hero were to not show up at their best school then they might just assume that you are being kept here against your will and try to 'rescue' you, because in their minds why would you not want to be hailed as a hero for doing something that you can't even really remember?"

Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his already messy hair. "You have a point, there, but at the first sign that you need me here I am booking it out of there. I am also going to talk to the goblins at Gringotts about any properties that my family might have, if there are any here we can move into it and let Greene-sensei have her home back, but I want you to come shopping for my supplies with me when we go." Mai looked ecstatic at the thought of going to look for more magical things for her brother. She let out a little squeal and hugged him before bouncing back with a big grin on her face. "You know sometimes I swear that I'm older than you when you do things like this," Harry had a smile on his face as he hugged Mai back. "We should go let the adults know what we decided."

Alana and Flitwick were sitting in companionable silence, each sipping their tea, though when the two siblings walked back in they looked up. "Have you two decided on anything yet?" Flitwick asked, smiling slightly at the two who he could tell were brilliant minds.

"Yes, I have decided to give Hogwarts a chance, but I will tell you now that If I should be required back here then I will be heading back here," Harry leveled a look at Flitwick who gave a nod of understanding. "If it would be possible to portkey to England at the end of the month for school shopping that would be wonderful." Flitwick gave an affirmative nod to the question and stood up. "Let us show you to the door, and thank you for coming out to talk to us sir," Harry stood up from where he had sat back down and, along with Mai led Flitwick out to the door.

**Dated July 30** **th** **1991**

Harry and Mai were standing with Professor Flitwick in the line for international portkeys in the Japanese Ministry for Magic. Both pre-teens were looking around them in awe, making comparisons to an airport terminal. There were bench-rows of chairs with a bit of padding on the seat so that the wizards and witched could be comfortable while they waited for their departure to be called. Others were standing in lines to either purchase a portkey or had already had one arranged and were confirming their timeslots. Unlike in a muggle airport there wasn't as much security so to speak, they still had people walk through detectors, but that was only to make sure that they weren't carrying anything contraband into the country.

"Next in line please," the friendly voice of the woman working the portkey station broke Harry and Mai from their intense examination of the room, realizing that this was them and the professor they followed the short man silently. "Where to today?" the smiling witch asked, zeroing in on Flitwick as the oldest (yet still shortest) of the group.

"England, and there are three of us for this trip, we shall require a return portkey for the first of August as well please," Flitwick smiled back at the pretty witch who nodded and waved her wand over a piece of parchment that a dicta-quill had been writing the receipt and ticketing information on. There were soon too copies of the parchment. She handed the copy to Flitwick and the original went into a lockbox.

"Your number is on the ticket please wait for your number to be called and head to departure zone 3-F, your cost for this trip will come out to 15 Galleons," She said as she handed the parchment over to Flitwick who only smiled back and paid the fare before leading the pre-teens over to the chairs.

"What's England like?" Mai asked, the long stretch of silence finally getting to the girl. Harry looked at her with amusement shown in his eyes, he had wondered how long it would take her to break the silence. "Harry do you remember any of it?" Mai looked at him with big eyes, pleading with him silently to impart his vast knowledge of his homeland to her.

"I don't remember much Mai, the last time I was there was when I was six, I remember that there were some people that would occasionally smile at me in stores and such, but I think they may have been wizards, so honestly not a clue," Harry frowned, thinking of the funny little man that had eagerly shaken his hand once in a shop. "Professor perhaps you could tell us more about England?" Harry and Mai turned their gazed to the clearly amused professor. He opened his mouth to explain when their number was called, much to the disappointment of the children.

"Why don't I answer your questions when we get to England? We will be staying the night at the Leaky Cauldron. It's the pub that hides the entrance to the Wizarding world," Flitwick explained at the confused looks on the two teens faces.

Together the group made its way to their departure zone and made their way to England.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking"-English
> 
>  
> 
> _"Talking"-Japanese_
> 
>  
> 
> _Thinking_
> 
>  
> 
> Quotes taken from the book

**Dated July 31** **st** **1991**

Harry and Mai looked around at the Ally with a small amount of Awe. Yes they had seen the magical communities back in Japan, but that community was with no small amount of muggle influence. Stepping into Diagonally was like stepping into a fantasy, a piece of history that would remain ever the same.

_"Hey, Harry it's like a story book isn't it?"_ Mai whispered to Harry, smiling at the exasperated look that he sent her way.

_"Yes, it is like a story book, complete with the smell of fresh dragon livers,"_ He joked as they passed the apothecary. Mai wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at him. Harry laughed at the look on her face, drawing Professor Flitwick's attention to the two pre-teens walking along behind him.

A small smile flicked over his face before he called to the two laughing children to hurry up. Taking his words to heart the two of them stopped laughing and hurried to catch up to the professor. Their eyes would occasionally wander to groups of people or certain shops that they passed by (Harry was particularly interested in the book store, Mai was interested by the joke shop). Soon, however, they had their eyes drawn to the looking white marble façade of the (only) Wizarding bank. Gringotts was to say the least, a bit overwhelming. It towered above the two children who had craned their necks back to see it all, the impressive bronze doors were guarded by a pair of goblins that eyed the trio as if they had no greater desire than to rip them apart, even as they bowed, but then, harry mused idly to himself that he thought most goblins looked a bit like that.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Was inscribed upon the second set of doors (silver this time) and Mai found herself glancing at her brother who only gave a tiny, almost unnoticeable shrug. They joined one of the ques for a teller along with the professor.

"Next," The goblin teller had a gravely, distinctly male voice.

"Hello good sir, we are here to make a withdrawal from Mr. Potter's vault," Flitwick squeaked presenting a golden key to the teller. Harry decided to speak up then as well.

"Also sir if it is not a bother to ask I wish to see the state of affairs, it is my understanding that my father was from an ancient and Nobel hose, as such he should have had some sort or family vault at the least," Harry held himself proudly, ignoring the look of surprise that flashed on two of the four faces that surrounded him (Mai knew about his plan after all).

"Of course Mr. Potter, I will just have Griphook lead you to your account manager," The goblin said and then called out to another goblin. "If you will just follow Griphook here then he will lead you to where you may speak with your account manager."

"Thank you sir. Am I correct in assuming that my sister and the professor are allowed to be present at this meeting?" Harry looked at the teller who nodded slightly before her turned on his heal and strode after the goblin that was already walking away.

"Your account manager Mr. Potter," Griphook opened paused slightly before opening the door. "Mr. Potter is here to see you Mr. Bogrod."

With that Griphook left the trio facing a rather well dressed goblin who gestured them to sit down. "I was wondering when I was going to see you Mr. Potter, there are a few things that I would like to go over with you," The goblin, Bogrod, sounded pleasant enough, or at least as pleasant as a goblin can sound that is. "I would like to start with your assets in money, I have taken the liberty to prepare a statement for you on your trust vault, your family vault," The goblin handed over a paper that Harry and Mai both looked at, the amount that was on the parchment had both preteens raising an eyebrow. "Have you any questions on your monetary assets Mr. Potter?" Harry looked up from his pursuit of the parchment and shook his head to be rewarded by a sharp-toothed smile from the goblin. "Very well, now this is another statement about the businesses and investments that your family is involved in. They have remained active after your parent's deaths but you may close off any that you wish." Another sheet of parchment was handed over and Harry quickly scanned through it.

Harry was interested to see that there was both Muggle and Wizarding businesses listed on the sheet. Most of them he would keep, but there were a few that Harry thought might be a good thing to invest in (including a certain fruit themed one), and some that he would have to keep an eye one as they seemed to be headed south. "I wish to invest in a new company sir and to limit a few others, but other than that this seems to be all in order," Harry looked up to see the goblin give a nod of his head and an approving look from the professor who he, in all honesty, had sorta forgotten about.

"Very well Mr. Potter, now, have you any other questions on your family's investments?" Bogrod looked across the desk at the boy who shook his head no. "Well then, that is all there is about your assets in terms of vaults and businesses, would you like to review the Potter properties?"

"Absolutely, that is actually why I asked for this meeting in the first place, do you know if the Potters have any properties in Japan, and if so are they inhabitable?" Harry leaned forwards in his chair, his elbows resting on his knees. "If they are not inhabitable what needs to be done in order to make them so. Also, if there is not already a property there what might be done to acquire one?"

Nearly everyone in the room looked at Harry oddly at this, except for Mai, who had already guessed what he was getting at. Bogrod blinked and cleared his throat before getting back to business. "Err, ah, yes, Mr. Potter, your family does indeed have property in Japan. There is a small flat in muggle Tokyo, and a larger mansion on the outskirts of Osaka, the main home is warded so that only family may enter and is connected to a private beach, also warded so that only those who are invited may enter."

Mai looked at Harry with a huge grin on her face, while Harry just frowned in thought. "What kind of wards are on the flat? And can additional ones be added to it?" Again this question had the two adults in the room stumped by the insightfulness of the question.

"All main properties of the Potter family have muggle repelling wards and charms, as well as the standard family wards. The Flat has a few 'notice-me-not' wards, but nothing to heavy as it is in an entirely muggle area," Bogrod passed over yet another sheet of paper that detailed the properties, including the names of the House-Elves that were employed by the Potters. Harry scanned over it quickly and handed the paper to his sister.

"Is it possible to set up a ward that will allow muggles to see the flat and access it, but wizards, and those with ill-intent would not notice it? I wish to occupy the flat with my sister and as she is a non-magical I would like to have every available precaution in place." Mai shot a look at Harry when he finished speaking, the soul on her face saying that she was capable of handling anyone that dared step into their home un-invited. Harry just grinned at the girl before he turned back to Bogrod.

"Yes, we goblins have a ward that we can set up around your property, as well as a way for your sister to have access to the other properties, for a fee of course…" Bogrod flashed a grin before the discussion continued on. The group emerged from the bank some time later with happy little grins on the faces of the two younger children and a gleaming ring on Harry's finger, the Potter family ring.

"Alright, first up a trunk, that way we can just toss everything into the trunk and be done with it," Harry declared, turning towards the shop that sold the trunks to students. "That is alright with you isn't it Professor?" Both pre-teens turned towards the small charm's professor who smiled and ushered them in the direction of the trunk shop, oh how he would love for young Harry to be in his house.

"Welcome to Dervish and Bangs, London Branch, how might I assist you today?" A rather bored looking teen said when the group entered the shop, not lifting his eyes from the edition of _The Quibbler_ that he had his nose buried in.

_"Hey Harry he looks a bit like Eiji from the upper years of school doesn't he?"_ Mai whispered, giggling slightly at the thought of the older teen that the two had gone to school with.

Harry shot a look at the girl beside him before covering a laugh with a cough. "I heard that this is the best shop to buy a multi compartment trunk. I need one with five separate compartments, one for books, one for school robes and uniforms, one for more formal wear, another that can act as living quarters if need be and the last for school supplies, please."

The teen looked up from his magazine, seemingly startled by the request. "You're a first year aren't you?" Harry just nodded and the teen smiled at him, "Well then that's a tall order for a firstie, do you want the locks to recognize only your magical signature, and if you are getting a trunk with a compartment for books might I suggest adding a feather weight charm so that you might be able to lift it easily."

"Yes, please, that would be very welcome, do you have anything like that in stock or will you have to add the adjustments yourself?"

The boy waved off the question with a vague hand gesture. "We have the five compartment trunk in stock. We get a few 'Claws in here from time to time with requests for a library compartment trunk, adjustments will take anywhere from a half an hour to an hour, if you wish to get some of your shopping done first I can give you a magical buzzer that will let you know when you can pick up your trunk. In the mean time I would suggest picking up your robes and perhaps your wand as well, although the robes can take a while to get done," The teen smiled at the group and then continued on with his shpeal, "Here is the buzzer to let you know when your trunk is done."

Harry took the thin rod that was apparently some sort of magical buzzer before politely thanking the teen and leaving the shop with his sister and Professor Flitwick. The group of three quickly set off in the direction of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Harry entered the shop first and was immediately greeted by a smiling, rather squat woman dressed in a mauve colored robe.

"Hogwarts Dear?" She had a pleasant voice, Harry noted, "Oh are there two of you today?" She smiled kindly at Mai who flushed a bit and shook her head. "Ah well, alls good dear, we do have a few nice muggle-style dresses if you would like to look at them while we get your friend here, brother I assume, all fitted out." Harry and Mai shared a small smile as Mai walked over to look at the dresses, Flitwick wandering off after her to make sure that she would be all right. "Alright dear if you will just follow me we will get you all fitted out for your robes." Madam Malkin led Harry off to the back of the shop where another boy was already stood on one of the foot stools getting outfitted in his robes.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"

The other boy had a distinct air about him, a sort of 'holier than thou' attitude that immediately made Harry wary of him.

"Yes," said Harry.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. Harry noted that his voice had an air of boredom, he fought hard to keep from rolling his eyes at the obviously, arrogant, self-entitled brat. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Oh yes, Harry decided, defiantly an arrogant little brat, but he had dealt with kids like this in school before, not to mention that he sounded a bit like a fat whale of a boy that Harry had lived with before he was adopted.

"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.

"No," said Harry

"Play Quidditch at all?"

Harry was sorely tempted to say 'gazunteight' at the mention of the Wizarding sport. "Not at all," Harry said brightly, smirking at the boy seemed at a loss of words when he said that. Before he could recover and say something else that would probably is insulting Harry continued on. "Japanese schooling does not let children with little control or training participate in a sport that has killed people in the past."

The pale boy narrowed his eyes at Harry. "You're a foreigner!" he exclaimed as if the whole world would burn that there was a foreigner in Britain.

"No, I am British, I was just raised in a foreign country," Harry turned his head towards the boy and narrowed his eyes at him. "You should really get to know a person before you make wild assumptions about them. It would do Britain some good to have a foreign influence on their outlook."

The boy blustered once more but before he could Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool. Harry gave a short bow to the proprietress and said a soft thank you before fetching his sister and the professor and exiting the shop with robes in hand. As soon as they had left the shop the buzzer for the trunk shop went off and the small group went to fetch Harry's trunk.

"Alright then, now the locks are simple thing, just place your finger here in the first slot and it will mesh to your magical signature so that only you can open it," The employee said to them when they entered the shop and handed over their indicator rod. Harry obliged the teen and smiled when the lock clicked, he placed his previous purchases into the compartment before paying and leaving the shop. After that the shopping went by quickly, books, cauldron, potions ingredients, phials, scales, and telescope were added so that all they had left was a wand and the optional pet.

Harry, Mai and Flitwick faced a narrow, shabby looking shop, the letters were written in pealing gold leaf, laying bare the weather beaten paint beneath. With a quick glance at Mai Harry entered into the shop.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single spindly chair. Mai leaned up against the wall, while Flitwick sat calmly in the chair. Both Harry and Mai felt the oppressive silence of the shop, not unlike the library at their old school. The air of the shop tingled against their individual sixth senses, telling tails to the children of the deeper magiks that permeated the shop.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Mai jumped, judging by the squeak that came from her direction.

"Good afternoon, I presume that you are Mr. Ollivander?" Harry said politely, turning to face an older man with wispy looking, Einstein-esque hair and wide, pale eyes that reminded Harry of the moon shining in the night sky.

"Ah yes," said the man (presumably Ollivander, but as he had neither confirmed nor denied that Harry was left to wonder). "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. Although, Harry figured that he probably did that for a dramatic effect.

"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little bit more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course."

Mr. Ollivander had tried to get closer by the end of his speech, but Harry had taken a half a step back from him and he had given up on that idea, instead he reached out a single pale finger to point at Harry's forehead.

"And that's where…"

Harry blinked at the owlish man before him, immediately catching on to what he was talking about but not interrupting him, or showing emotions at all.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands…well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"

He trailed off dramatically and then spotted Mai, "Ah, I don't believe I have seen any of your family around young lady, are you here with Mr. Potter?"

Mai squeaked and nodded her head. "Ah, y-yes, I'm Harry's sister Taniyama Mai, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said smiling at the man who smiled back serenely, losing some of his mysterious air.

_"I must say that I am glad to see Mr. Potter with a good family,"_ To the surprise of all in the room Mr. Ollivander spoke nearly flawless Japanese,

_"Ah, um, thank you sir,"_ Mai said with a blush on her cheeks.

Ollivander just smiled at her before turning back to Harry. "Well, now – Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

Harry immediately held up his right arm and watch as Mr. Ollivander began to measure just about every possible place he could measure. He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and around his head. As he measured he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hair, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivanders wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Harry had only been half paying attention to the man, instead paying more attention to the tape measure that was moving on its own and measuring between his nostrils. Ollivander had been flitting about his shop for a while now, pulling down boxes seemingly at random.

"Of course, I have had some foreign wizards in here before, some ambassadors prefer to have an extra wand, as some places use components that are illegal in Britain and they prefer to have something that wont upset our government so some of our cores are not the usual three that most wands have, I believe we shall start with a few of those, here try this one, Ash wood, dragon heartstring, twelve and a half inches and quite bendy." He handed Harry a wand as the tape measure crumpled to the ground. Harry had barely wave the wand before it was snatched away.

"Larch and phoenix feather, ten and three quarter inches unyielding." Again Harry gave the wand a wave, but nothing happened. "No, not that one then, try this, ebony and dragon heartstring, seven inches, flexible."

It went on like this for a while, they even tried a certain holly and phoenix wand, that one gave a soft spark, but then so had a few others, so it was put in a 'maybe' pile.

"Hmm, I do wonder if you would try this one for me Mr. Potter, it's an unusual combination, a dual core of Erumpent Hide and Fairy wings, two things that will get along together nicely with just about any wood, but paired with Alder as they are really mellows out the erumpent hide. Twelve inches, and surprisingly flexible, well give it a bit of a wave then," he handed over another wand. Harry took it and felt a sense of warmth in his whole body, he brought the wand swishing through the air in a graceful ark, a trail of mixed gold and silver sparks trailing behind it.

Both Harry and Ollivander smiled at the display and Harry paid his fee for the wand, ten galleons in total, considering the rarity of the components and the fact that most wand makers refused to work with two components it was actually a very fair price.

**Dated August 1** **st** **1991**

_"Ok you two you have the rest of the month to spend together, Mr. Potter I will be back on the last day of the month to pick you up, we will port key to England and will stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the night then in the morning we will make our way to the station to catch the train,"_ Flitwick said to the two teens as they stood before the door to their current apartment, the one that they lived in with Greene-sensei.

_"Yes sir we shall remember that, thank you for accompanying us shopping,"_ Harry said with a slight bow. The professor smiled and waved good bye to them before he turned and walked back to the street. Harry and Mai entered into the house to tell Greene-sensei that they would be moving into Harry's flat that was a little distance away from their current location.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking" – English  
>  _"Talking" – Japanese_  
>  'Talking' – Sorting Hat  
> Thinking

**Dated August 31** **st** **1991**

_"Harry are you ready, the professor and Greene sensei will be here at any moment, come on, we are going to see you off!"_ Mai called through the apartment that she and Harry had began to live in after they returned to Japan from their shopping trip.

_"I'm right behind you Mai, no need to shout so loud,"_ Harry was indeed standing behind his sister, having just come out of the kitchen. _"They won't be here until three, its only one right now, calm down Mai."_

Mai sighed and flopped into one of the chairs at the dining room table. As the apartment that Harry and Mai were living in now was part of the Potter Family properties, it was rather large and upscale and furnished in the style of westerners, with lush carpets, big recliners and comfy cloth couches, as well as big, four poster beds with the softest mattresses the two had ever slept on. Harry loved it here, as did Mai, but they still had to pay rent on the flat. Harry had already paid for it up to when Mai would enter high school, but she instead on being able to pay for some of it herself. _"Harry what if they come over early?"_

_"They won't, now come help me make some tea,"_ Harry smiled at her and retreated back to the kitchen. Mai sighed but got up anyway. The two pre-teens moved confidently around each other in the kitchen, Harry helping to boil water and Mai actually making the tea as Harry, despite being an excellent cook in pretty much anything else no thanks to his bastard relatives, he could not make tea as well as his sister. The two sat down to enjoy their tea and a plate of cookies until three, when Harry would ship off to England to learn magic.

A few hours later Mai was napping on the couch and Harry was sketching the living room with some colored pencils when the two were interrupted by a knock at the door. _"What's that?"_ Mai said groggily, rolling off of the couch as Harry stood up from the chair that he sat in and crossed over to the front door.

_"Come in professor, Greene-Sensei, would either of you like some tea before we leave?"_ Harry offered as he let the two adults into the home. Mai emerged from the living room and smiled at the two adults.

_"No, thank you for the offer though, but I'm afraid we don't have time, now you are all packed right?"_ Professor Flitwick asked with a smile at the two of them. Harry nodded his head and indicated his trunk, which he had placed near the door. Flitwick clapped his hand happily and beamed at the two before him. _"Alright then, well we should be off, if you will allow me I can shrink your trunk so we don't have so much to carry."_

_"Thank you sir,"_ Harry smiled at the professor, then turned his attention to the two women, _"Are you going to see us off?"_

Greene-sensei nodded and pulled an owl cage from behind her back. _"Here, this is a going away present for you; I have a cousin in England that breeds specialized owls for the magical communities. His are the fastest and the sturdiest. I arranged for you to get an owl, she is a Blakiston's Fish owl and she will meet up with you when you are in England. Either at Hogwarts or tonight when you stay at the Leaky Cauldron, now Harry, she isn't named yet, I thought you could do that. And now you don't have an excuse not to write so I expect a letter with news about what's going on at Hogwarts—"_ She was cut off by Harry as he rushed to give her a hug, muttering thank you in both languages that he knew.

_"Harry, we need to leave now or we will be late, here let me shrink that cage for you too,"_ Flitwick said with a small smile at the group. Harry handed over the cage and with a tap of his wand Flitwick had it shrunk down and in the same pocket as his trunk was. _"Alright, let's go, kids hold onto my arm we are going to side along apparate to the portkey station."_

Harry and Mai held onto Flitwick's arms and felt the sickening sense of being pulled and squeezed through a small rubber tube. _"Oh, I hate doing that, Greene-Sensei can we take the train or something else back?"_ Mai looked a bit green as she asked the sentence as Greene Sensei showed up next to where they had just appereated to. The woman chuckled and ruffled her hair a bit.

_"Of course, now let's see your brother off."_

Mai smiled, skipping up next to her brother and leading him into the building, the chuckling adults following behind them. _"Bye, Harry! Have fun in England, have fun and write me often!"_ Mai said, holding her brother in a virtual death hold.

_"Bye Mai, expect letters soon, Bye Greene-sensei, make sure Mai stays out of trouble,"_ Harry said with a smile after he had wriggled free of his sister's death grip.

Greene-Sensei smiled and ruffled Harry's hair. _"I will try my best, just make sure to keep yourself out of trouble ok? And don't listen to what anyone says about the other houses, my cousin was in Slytherin and is one of the best people that you could ever meet, the others are good too."_

Harry nodded and gave the two women a quick hug before running to catch the portkey that had just been called for him and Flitwick.

**Dated September 1** **st** **1991 5:00 am**

Harry woke up for the second time in his life on a bed in the Leaky Cauldron. This time he was not heading back home to Japan, but off to school in Scotland, which might explain why he woke up at five am filled with an abundance of energy. His owl decided to swoop into the room at that moment, drawing her wings into herself slightly so that she would fit through the window.

_"Hey Girl,"_ Harry smiled and ran a finger down the large Owl's head. _"I should probably give you a name shouldn't I?"_ Harry continued petting the owl as he went through a list of names. _"Oh, Olga of Kiev, one of the ancient rulers of Russia, what do you think of the name Olga?"_ Harry smiled at the soft hoot the owl gave at the name and gently opened her cage, allowing her to waddle inside and tuck her head under her wing to get some sleep.

For the next three hours Harry went around his room making sure that he had everything that he brought with him neatly in his trunk. He placed Olga on top of his trunk just as Flitwick knocked on the door and slipped in to find an already awake and ready to go Harry Potter.

"Ah good morning Mr. Potter, if you do not mind I think it would be best to have some breakfast and get to the station early before the rush. I have asked the innkeeper, Tom, to pack you a lunch as the trip to the school can be very long and the trolley only has candies on it," Flitwick said with a kindly smile that Harry returned.

"That sounds perfectly reasonable professor, thank you." Harry smiled again and exited the room to eat his breakfast in the common area of the inn. He remained silent as did Flitwick, both preferring to either people watch or read the morning paper.

They finished their breakfast and without much talking Harry went upstairs and collected his trunk and owl cage while Flitwick picked up his lunch. "We will be using the floo to get to the station; I trust you know how to use the floo?" Flitwick waited till he received a nod of confirmation from Harry before smiling and holding out a bag of floo powder. "Alright the address for the station is simply 'platform 9 and 3/4' take your owl through with you and I will follow with your trunk."

Harry took up Olga's cage and a pinch of powder. He threw the powder in the fire and stepped into the emerald flames, calling out the address and closing his eyes as he spun so he would not get sick. He smoothly stepped through the grate and apologized to Olga as she looked distinctly ruffled from that experience. The flames flared green behind him and he stepped aside for Flitwick.

"Here you are Mr. Potter. Now I will just help you put your trunk on the train and then I must be off, I will see you later today at the welcome feast," Flitwick smilingly levitated Harry's trunk into a compartment and up onto the luggage rack before disapperating with a soft pop.

* * *

Harry watched as people slowly trickled into the platform from where he had sat down on one of the benches. A girl with a bushy head of hair walked in through the barrier, she was alone so either her parents were muggles, they didn't care about her, or they were a mixture of both. He guessed, however, that the wide eyed look the girl had was a sign that she was a muggleborn. His eyes slid past her and to some of the other people that were entering the platform. There was a large family of red heads, the same blonde that he had met in the robes shop before, and an equally lost looking boy as the bushy haired girl from before.

"Excuse me," speaking of the bushy haired girl form earlier here she was lugging her trunk after her. "Might I possibly sit here with you?" She sounded hesitant, and looked rather scared. Harry just gave her a nod, standing up and helping her put her trunk up in the luggage rack. She sat on a seat across from him and shifted nervously until she finally stuck her hand out towards him. "I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."

"Potter-Taniyama Harry," He said, taking her hand in his own and giving a short shake. "Oh wait sorry wrong order there, Harry Potter-Taniyama, sorry I just got in yesterday from Japan." Harry laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

The girl, Hermione, was looking at him with wide eyes. "Are you really? I mean are you actually _the_ Harry Potter? Wait I thought that you would have stayed in Britain, why were you in Japan?" She shot off questions rapid fire with barely a pause for breath.

" _Ne ne, Hermione-San_ ,breathe please?" Harry said through laughter. "Don't believe everything I the books, I didn't approve of anything they printed and they will be hearing from my legal team for that," He paused as if in thought before continuing on. "As to whether or not I am 'the Harry Potter' yes I would guess that I am, despite the two names being common in the muggle world."

Hermione blushed and looked away, towards the door right as another student walked up nervously. "C-can I sit here maybe, if you don't mind that is," He asked hesitantly. Harry gave him a wide smile and beckoned him inside; Hermione gave a small smile as well. "I-I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom," the boy said as he slipped into the compartment and sat down next to Hermione.

"Hermione Granger," Hermione introduced herself and shook Neville's hand.

"Harry Potter, and before you ask, yes I am that 'Harry Potter' and no I will not answer any questions about it, I am just a normal kid, so please, don't treat me any different, my sister would kill me if I went home with an inflated head," Harry joked, a wide grin on his face.

Neville gave a small smile and pulled a toad out of his pocket. "This is Trevor, my Uncle got him for me when I got into Hogwarts." He said holding up the toad, Olga opened one of her eyes and eyes the group before she ruffled her feathers and fell back into sleep.

"And this is Olga, now that we are all introduced I think we should play a game to pass the time. I have some cards, we could all teach each other card games that we know, like there is this one I learned from a friend back in Japan called 'slap jack'.

* * *

A few hours later the children had played plenty of rounds of 'Slap Jack' and numerous other card games as well as eaten an few sweets they had purchased from the trolley lady to share, as well as some of the lunch that Harry had brought with him.

"Hey, have either of you seen Trevor?" Neville questioned the other two first years after patting his pockets a few times.

"No, but we can help you look for it, Hermione why don't you go with Neville and look for Trevor on the back half of the train, I will go see if I can find him in the front half. We should also try to see if one of the prefects can help," Harry stood up and first checked under his seat. "Alright, he's not here lets go and search."

The three first years left the compartment and split up, Harry went towards the front and Hermione and Neville went towards the back. Harry first checked the hallway around the compartment before moving on. "Excuse me, but have you seen a toad around? My friend's seems to have hopped away," he said, tapping a boy about his age on the shoulder.

"No, sorry, but I can help you look if you want, hey, Dean, why don't you come help me and uhh, wait sorry I didn't catch your name?" The boy said, another boy joining him. "I'm Seamus and this is Dean."

"Harry, pleasure to meet you," Harry said with a small smile. "I'm looking for my friend Neville's toad for him and was wondering if you had seen him at all?"

"Ehh, can't say that I have, but we could always help you look if you want," the darker skinned boy, Dean, said with a friendly smile.

* * *

"I FOUND THE TOAD!" the shout came from the sandy haired Irish boy, Seamus, had been the one to shout the words. "Guys, here, he is I found him, where were your friends at again?"

"In our carriage, I will take Trevor from you and you guys can go back to your compartment, thank you for helping," Harry smiled and walked over to the other boy, gently taking the toad from him and holding the animal close to his chest. _"Arigato."_ Harry added and ran back to his compartment. Hermione and Neville were already sitting in the compartment, sitting and talking with each other. They looked up when Harry walked in, Hermione smiling at the sight of the toad and Neville leaping up and taking the toad from him, putting him into his pocket carefully. "You know you might want to see if Professor Flitwick can help you charm one of the pockets on your robes to be a terrarium for Trevor."

"Professor Flitwick? When I was introduced to the Wizarding world Professor McGonagall told us about it, who is Professor Flitwick?" Hermione asked, looking up from the book that she had buried her nose into.

Harry regarded for a moment before remembering what the Professor had said about him being sent out to students in other countries as he was the most adept at the charm he used to speak Japanese. "He is the charms Professor, they send him out when there is a student in a non-English speaking country. They offer invitations to anyone out of country whose parents went to Hogwarts. Professor Flitwick is the best at the language charm. He is also the head of Ravenclaw house and really very nice. He let my sister come with us when we went shopping for school supplies," he explained to them. The conversation then turned to what each of them knew about the castle. They continued this line of conversation until they reached the castle.

* * *

Hogwarts was a truly magnificent castle. The first sight of it that the three friends caught was from the shore of the lake before they boarded the boats. It stood on a cliff overlooking the large lake and the giant of a man that they had been following was quite proud to show off the castle. Soon the first years were clambering into the boats, Harry and Neville held it steady for Hermione and another first year girl as they climbed into the front before they climbed in themselves.

The ride across the lake went smoothly, the other girl in the boat with them, a girl named Lavender Brown, chattered on about how she heard from some of the older students that sometimes people fell into the lake. Harry was quite glad that didn't happen on this crossing as it would make them all very wet and they would probably have to sit through the entire welcome feast being sopping wet and would probably not impress anyone with their looks.

Once they docked Harry and Neville again held the boat steady for the girls before turning their attention to the only door they could see into the castle. The giant man knocked on it, a large smile on his face. "Fis' Years fer ya Professor McGonagall," he said to the rather stern looking witch that opened the door to the group.

"Thank you Hagrid I can get them from here," she had a stern, no-nonsense voice that Harry made not to respect immediately. "Now, follow me please." The stern with didn't give them any chance to argue, she just turned and strode into the castle, leading the group of fist years into a side room off of the main entrance hallway. "In a few moments you will be sorted into your houses. While you are at Hogwarts your house will be like your family. Good behavior will earn you point while any rule breaking will lose you points. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I hope that you will use these moments before the sorting to make yourselves presentable. I will be back for you all when the hall is ready for you." She said, her eyes lingering on a few that had a loose button or, in the case of a red headed boy nearby, dirt on their nose.

Chatter broke out immediately after she had left the room, the red headed boy was going on about a troll while Hermione was giving Neville some pointers on wand movements that she had self taught over the summer. "Hermione, don't be so nervous, I doubt they will make first years do magic, half of us would be kicked out if they did. The houses value personality traits there will probably be something like a personality test," Harry soothed the almost frantic girl beside him.

Hermione opened her mouth, probably to either snap at him or to thank him for calming her down when Professor McGonagall came back in the room, her lips pressed thin at the sight of some boys in one corner of the room that were goofing off. "If you will please follow me so the sorting ceremony can begin," She said in her stern no-nonsense voice. "Please get into a single file line." She waited until the first years were in a more or less straight nine before leading them up to the front of the room where a tattered old hat waited on a wobbly looking three legged stool.

Harry stared at the hat along with everyone else in the hall, nudging Hermione in the ribs gently to make her shut up about the ceiling and how the hall was charmed in different ways. After a moment the hat twitched and a wide tear near the bottom opened wide and broke into song. Out of the corner of his eye Harry could see plenty of the other first years giving the hat strange looks though they said nothing. The hat finally finished its song with a bow towards each of the four house tables.

"When I call your name you are to come forward and put the sorting hat on your head to be sorted," McGonagall said, holding up a list in one hand to read from and the sorting hat in the other. "Abbot, Hannah."

A nervous looking girl detached herself from the line and hesitantly sat on the stool. The hat fell down over her eyes and took a few moments before calling out "HUFFELPUFF!" The girl got off the stool and walked to the cheering table in yellow and black. Harry watched in silence as more names were called, making note of them in the back of his mind as he would be sharing a dorm with them for quite some time. Finally McGonagall called the name of one of his new friends.

"Granger, Hermione." Hermione walked forwards with a nervous smile at the two boys on either side of her. She lifted her head up before walking out to the stool and sitting upon it. The hat dropped down over her eyes and Harry and Neville watched as the hat seemed to take a while before finally calling out "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry watched as she bounced off the stool and placed the hat down before joining the mass of red trimmed black robes. He turned his attention back to the students that were being sorted. Half listening until Neville's name was called. HE watched as his nervous friend walked up to the front and sat on the stool. The hat seemed to take longer for Neville than it had for Hermione before finally sorting him into Gryffindor as well. Finally it was time for Harry to be sorted.

"Potter-Taniyama, Harry," McGonagall called out. Ignoring the whispers that broke out behind him Harry straightened his posture and sat down on the stool his world going black as the sorting hat was dropped down over his eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking"
> 
> _'Talking' – Sorting Hat_
> 
> _Thinking_

**Dated September 1** **st** **1991**

Harry sat on the stool and watched as the fat fell over his eyes, turning his sight black. He felt a gentle brush against his mind and smiled, figuring that it was the sorting hat was trying to get a read on his mind. He smiled softly and sent out a mental _Hello_ to the other presence.

_'Interesting, very interesting,'_ the voice was a soft whisper in his ear, and reminded him of an elderly man that would sit out enjoying the sunshine while his grandchildren played and made daisy chains for him. _'You have a very interesting mind, Mr. Potter, very interesting indeed,'_

_Thank you sir, I'm glad that you find interest in my mind, it would be terribly boring otherwise._ Harry let a mental image of him smiling facing the old man that was the sorting hat float around his head and felt, rather than heard the chuckle of the magical garment.

_'Now, where to put you Mr. Potter, you would excel in all of the houses,'_ the hat seemed to be talking to itself more than to Harry so he remained quiet, listening to its analysis with interest. _'You have plenty of intelligence and a drive to learn, plenty of bravery as well as loyalty, to your two friends already as well as to your sister. But there is also a drive to prove yourself…yes Mr. Potter you would do well in any house, but where to put you.'_

_If you are having trouble placing me then Slytherin is not a good choice, that's where Lord Voldemort and a lot of his followers came from, not a very good environment to go into._ Harry thought at the hat, smiling at the chuckle that the hat gave at his words. _I would also say that Ravenclaw is out as I don't value intelligence above all else, the rest of it I shall leave up to you sir._

_'Well with that in mind then it better be….GRYFFINDOR!'_ The hat shouted the last word out and Harry smiled and took the magical item from his head and put it on the stool, bowed to the professor slightly before going to take a seat at the red and gold table between Hermione and Neville.

The entire table was cheering and only quieted down after a glare from the stern Professor McGonagall. Harry smiled and turned his attention to the rest of the sorting. Paying attention when the aged headmaster stood up and gave his odd speech before the tables started literally groaning under the weight of the food that had magically appeared on it.

"Oh wow," he heard Hermione breathe out as she looked at the food before them. Oh what's this? I don't think I have seen it before." She was pointing at a clearly foreign dish that was sat close to them. Harry smiled, recognizing it as kimchi. He dished a small portion out onto his plate before selecting a few other things onto his plate.

"It's called kimchi, it's a sort of cabbage dish, it's actually quite good when you get past the newness of it," he smiled and took a small bite of the food as if to prove that it was actually good.

Hermione, not one to pass on a challenge, even when one was not necessarily there, took a small portion of the dish for herself and hesitantly tried it. She wrinkled her nose at the flavor but ate what she had dished out for herself before starting in on a steak and kidney pie that was nearby.

"I take it you don't like it then Hermione-san." Harry smiled knowingly and laughed at the girl who had only scowled at him. "At least you tried it though." He smiled as Neville chuckled beside him. "I wouldn't fill up too much right now though, I believe they will be sending desert out to us soon."

Hermione actually cracked a smile at this and Neville slowed down eating a bit, though as he was eating at a more relaxed pace than some of the others, he just started to eat at a normal pace. True to Harry's prediction the plates soon magically cleared themselves of the meal and instead played host to desert.

"I wonder how they get the food to do that?" Hermione wondered aloud as she scooped a bit of a sugar free treat onto her plate and began to eat it. "I read in our transfiguration book that you can't create food from nothing, so where does the food come from?" She stared down at her plate rather intently, as if the golden shine of it could somehow give her the answers she needed.

"My guess, Hermione-san, is that the kitchen is right underneath of us. The school probably also employs hundreds of house-elves to help cook, clean, and perhaps fix things that break if it is within their power," Harry stated, pulling a platter of pocky towards himself and nibbling on the treat. "Before you ask, a house elf is a creature that lives in a symbiotic relationship with a wizard. A house elf needs to access their bonded wizard's magic to survive, but they tend to give back magic that they take, mostly to wards at the family home. No they do not get paid, a house elf would take that as an insult as they take pride in helping wizards and they enjoy their job in most cases."

Hermione had opened her mouth, looking offended on the part of the house elves. Harry had just plowed on in his explanation though. "What if they are being mistreated though, aren't there laws about that?" She stated, eyes still wide she watched as Harry thoughtfully munched on his pocky as he thought through laws involving house elves.

"In Japan they have a few laws that protect them and some of our other creatures, here in Britain, I'm afraid that laws are few and far between and usually tend to cancel each other out." He thought for another moment, starting on another piece of pocky as he did so. "You shouldn't have to worry about the wellbeing of the Hogwarts house elves though, I'm sure that they are treated very well, and trying to change what the ministry says is also more or less useless. Apparently Britain is quite biased against muggle borns."

Hermione hmmed and opened her mouth to say more but by that point the headmaster had stood up to give his speech and the plates had cleared of food once more. Harry and Hermione turned their attention to the front along with the rest of the school. The announcements were, for the most part, rather ordinary. Do not go in the forest, obvious that one really, there were some banned items that had good reason to be banned. It was the last announcement that really grabbed Harry's attention. Why on earth would the Headmaster say not to go into a specific corridor or face a terrible end? An even better question was why would he not inform the prefects? Harry would defiantly be looking into this when he had the time. Hermione would probably help him and perhaps Neville as well. However, now was the time for sleep, Harry would write a letter to Greene-sensei and Mai in the morning, telling them of his placement and perhaps he would take professor Flitwick up on his offer of advise, even though he was not his head of house Harry knew that the man was to be trusted. It was with these thoughts in mind that Harry fell into sleep, tuning out the snoring of his roommates.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Bold-straight from the books**
> 
> "Talking"
> 
> _Thinking_

**Dated September 2** **nd** **1991**

Harry woke earlier than the rest of his roommates, a small smile on his face and a clear, well rested mind. Looking around his room he took the opportunity to take in what the dorm looked like. In all there were four other boys besides himself, two of them snored, one louder than the other, one was muggle born or at least muggle raised, as evidenced by the poster of the west ham soccer team. If he recalled correctly one of the boys was Irish, the one in the bed next to west ham boy if Harry was not mistaken. Neville had the bed to one side of Harry and a boy with rather vibrant red hair was on the other side. Smiling to himself harry slipped out of his bed and rummaged through his trunk for some of his clothes. He pulled out a clean uniform and wandered off to the bathroom to dress.

Sitting in the common room gave Harry plenty of time to re read some of his course books. If the teachers here were anything like his teachers back in Japan they would expect their students to have already read at least part of the books that they assigned to them. "Good morning Harry, is that one of our course books?" He started at the voice and looked up at the face of the brown eyed, bushy haired Hermione Granger.

"What? Oh yes, it is, I thought it would be a good idea to read a bit before going to class," Harry smiled and closed the textbook. "We should go to breakfast early, that way we can get our schedules and grab the books we need. I think I will go check and see if Neville is up, we can all walk down together." Hermione gave a small smile at Harry's words and nodded, Harry bounded off up the stairs into the boys dorm. Neville, it appeared was the second one to get up and was currently telling the Irish boy, Seamus, that they shouldn't sleep too late. "Hey, Neville-kun, Hermione-san and I were going to go to breakfast, would you like to come with us?"

Neville looked up at the other boy and smiled, grabbing his outer robe and putting it on as he said a hasty goodbye to the other boys that were awake. "See you guys around," he smiled and took the stairs two at a time, Harry right behind him. "Good Morning Hermione," Neville said upon seeing the girl. "May I have the pleasure of being the one to escort you to breakfast?" he asked formally and with a little bow, holding his arm out to her.

Hermione giggled softly and gave Neville a little curtsy, placing her hand gently on his arm. "I would be honored to accept your gracious offer kind sir," she had a soft smile on her features as she spoke. She placed her hand delicately on his arm and the two of them swept out of the room, Harry following close behind them, the three of them were laughing as they walked down to the great hall.

"I wonder what classes we will have first?" Hermione started to babble, "I hope we have charms or transfiguration, I hear from some of the older students that Professors Flitwick and McGonagall are excellent teachers. Of course I meet Professor McGonagall when I got my letter, she came to explain what it was to my family and was really nice about it too. Hey, Harry, you lived in Japan right? Did Professor McGonagall bring you your letter or did someone else?"

"Breath please, Professor Flitwick brought me my letter and faced an interrogation from my older sister and our guardian," Harry smiled a bit, noticing that Neville also had a smile on his face. _It is truly a wonderful thing to have friends you can laugh and smile with._ He thought to himself as the entered the great hall and sat down at the table, Neville and Hermione on one side and Harry on the other.

By this time McGonagall was making her way around to each of the students, handing out schedules as she did so. Harry, Hermione and Neville took their schedules and looked them over, smiling when they saw that they all had Transfiguration first.

"We should go grab our books for our next few classes," Neville said quietly, the other two agreeing with him and standing up from the table to run back up to the tower to grab their books.

The day passed without much incident, their classes were just going over the course outlines and starting on the theory for their individual branches of magic. Harry and Hermione soon fell into a friendly completion of trying to see if they could out smart each other or answer the questions of the teachers first. Neville was just happy that they were happy and that they were hanging out with him.

**Dated September 6** **th** **1991**

Harry was sat down to breakfast with Neville and Hermione when his owl, Olga flew in and landed in front of him. An imperious look on her face and a note held in her beak. He smiled and took it from her and gave her a piece of bacon which she gratefully took and flew back to the owelry.

"Who's it from Harry?" Hermione asked, taking a bite of her toast and looking at the letter that Harry now held open in his hand.

"It's from my sister, she asks how my first week went and if I have been having fun, she also says that Greene-sensei says Hi and that she hopes I am doing my homework," he spoke with a small smile on his face that made both his friends quite happy to see.

"Well that's good then," Neville said with his own smile at his friend's happiness, "We should get going to class though," he added on, looking at his friends.

Nodding in agreement Harry and Hermione gathered up their things and walked from the great hall to head to their classes for the day.

Potions started much like any of their other classes had, Harry and Hermione sat together and Neville sat with the redheaded Weasly boy. Harry and Hermione sat silently with their books out and quill and parchment ready for note taking. Professor Snape swept into the room with his black robes billowing behind him like the wings of an overlarge bat and immediately started to call the roll, pausing when he reached Harry's name and aiming a nasty sneer in the boy's direction.

" **Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new—** _ **celebrity."**_

Harry ignored the snickering from some of the Slytherins and merely said a soft "Present Sir," like many of the other students had when their name was called.

Snape also ignored the snickers from his house students in order to finish calling roll. When he was done he looked down his nose at the students as if he would rather be anywhere but in this classroom teaching these students.

" **You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making ," he began.** His voice was barely over a whisper, but the man had a talent for keeping a class silent, possibly due to the way that he sneered down at everyone or possibly due to the fact that this did not look like a man that you would wish to cross. **"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep though human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses….I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

Silence followed the man's statement, the entire class seemed to have been enraptured by his speech. He looked down his rather large nose at them and seemed to zero in on Harry.

" **Potter!"** he snapped, black eyes glittering slightly. **"What would I get if added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

Harry thought for a moment certain that he had heard that somewhere before it came to him. "Those two ingredients would help produce the Draught of Living Death sir," he said respectfully, looking into the black eyes of the potions-master who seemed slightly surprised that he had answered the question right, but covered it up rather quickly.

"Correct, Potter," he said, looking as if the phrase was the worst sort of thing that a person could possibly say. "Longbottom," he said turning to Neville who juped with surprise at being addressed, **"where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"**

Neville looked confused for a moment before he remembered the answer to the question. "You can find them in the stomach of a goat, sir."

Again snape looked like he had swallowed a dungbomb at the correct answer from a Gryffindor. "Correct," he said before finding a new target for his questioning. **"What is the difference,** Weasley, **between monkshood and wolfsbane?"**

The youngest Weasley boy wore a highly confused look, and the rather vacant quality to his eyes told Harry that he had been spacing out. "Umm, you one of them is a flower and the other is a vine?" he ventured a guess and cringed at the nasty sneer that showed on the professor's face when he was done speaking.

"Incorrect, five point from Gryffindor for your lip Weasly," Snape snapped, looking all too happy to be taking points from Gryffindor. "For your information, there is no difference between monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, also known as aconite." He looked imperiously around the room at all of the students before sniping out "Well, why aren't any of you writing this down?" he sneered as the class scrambled to write down what he had said before getting to work on the cure for boils that he was having them do that class.

Class was going quite well, Harry and Hermione were working rather well together, neither one getting in the way of the other. That is to say, class was going quite well until a somewhat muffled hissing noise issued from somewhere behind the two students. **Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.**

Snape stalked over from where he had been on the other side of the room and cleared away the potion, reprimanding the boy for his mistake. **"You—Potter—why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you?"** he snarled, glaring at Harry, who only blinked at him incredulously, saying nothing.

After that point the rest of class went by without many problems, nothing else exploded and no one got seriously injured, so Harry was counting it as a win.

Two hours after class found Harry sitting out on the lawns with Hermione and Neville, enjoying the sunlight and the last warmth of summer before the heat left them. Harry and Hermione were helping to catch Neville up with what had happened during the rest of the potions lesson and were giving the shy boy some pointers on his homework. Neville himself could not quite believe that these two had decided to help him at all, but was quite happy that they had taken it upon themselves to be his friends.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Bold- from the books/movies**  
>  “Talking”  
>  _Thinking/Talking between minds_

**Dated September 9 th 1991**

Harry looked at his two nervous friends with some amusement, today was the day of their flying lesions, and despite his assurances that they would be fine both Neville and Hermione were extremely…twitchy. Hermione was repeating facts from a library book called ‘Quidditch through the Ages’ and Neville was clinging on to everything that she was saying **, desperate for anything that might help him hang on his broomstick later**. Ronald Weasley seemed to be getting annoyed at Hermione for repeating the facts in the book verbatim, and so was quite glad when her jittery lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the hundreds of owls that brought the mail.

Harry glanced up to see if he saw his owl Olga there; she wasn’t, though **a barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.**

**“It’s a Remembrall!” he explained. “Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if there’s something you’ve forgotten to do. Look you hold it tight like this and if it turns red – oh…”** Harry watched as his friend’s face fell at the sight of the swirling red smoke in the little glass ball. **“…you’ve forgotten something…”**

His face scrunched up as he tried to remember what it was that he had forgotten, his grip on the Remembrall loosening somewhat as he concentrated. **Draco Malfoy, who** had been walking past the table, **snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.**

Harry stood up calmly from the table, where as Ronald Weasley had immediately leapt up, wand at the ready. Just as calmly as he had stood up Harry held out his hand to the blonde boy.

“Pardon me, Malfoy- _shi_ ,* but it is rather rude to snatch things from the hands of another. I was taught that the proper thing to do would be to ask, and I am sure that should you hand the ball back and then ask nicely then Neville would be willing to let you see it closer,” he said. He kept his voice at a respectful tone, though there was a distinct cold edge to it that promised pain if the other boy did not give in to the demands of the slightly shorter ebony haired, bespectacled, boy who held out his hand to him. With an air of reluctance to him Malfoy placed the ball into the outstretched hand. Harry smiled politely as he handed the ball back to Neville. “Thank you very much Malfoy- _shi_ , that was not so hard, now was it?”

Malfoy, for his part, looked as if he had been force-fed a lemon wedge. Some of the students around Harry were looking at the exchange between the two with a small amount of awe. No doubt the infamous Hogwarts rumor mill would spread and embellish the story by the end of the day.

\---------

Harry, Hermione and Neville all headed down to the grounds, along with the rest of the Gryffindors, for their first ever flying lesson. Despite the clear weather Harry could sense that his two friends were rather nervous about the affair. Harry purposefully slowed his steps down some so that the three of them were lagging behind the rest of their class as they walked. “Guys, don’t sweat about it, ok? Think of brooms like horses, they are going to be able to sense when you are nervous, so we should just stay calm yes?” he spoke to the two of them with a grin as he linked arms with them.

They were the last of the students to arrive at the field and Harry quickly directed his friends to the last three brooms, making sure that they got the better looking of the three brooms and taking the worst looking one for himself. The three of them turned their attention onto their instructor, a woman with short, spiky grey hair and yellow, hawk-like eyes, named Madam Hooch.

**“Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.”** She barked out to orders at a few students that had not already decided to stand beside their brooms. There was a slight rush as a couple of students almost got in a fight over one of the brooms. **“Stick out your right hand over your broom and say ‘Up!’”**

Resounding shouts of ‘Up!’ rang through the lawn as the students took their instructor’s words to heart. As Harry shouted up we watched his broom jump from the ground and into his hand, though it was one of the very few that did so. The only others that seemed to have had this effect on their brooms were Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley and a girl in Sytherin house whose name was Tracy Davis if he was not mistaken. Hermione’s broom had given a half hearted roll on the first command of up and Neville’s had hovered two inches before dropping back down.

“Just relax, remember, they are like horses, there is nothing to be nervous about, Madam Hooch is here for a reason,” he murmured softly to the two beside him.

He smiled as they both relaxed slightly at his words and got their brooms to fly up into their hands within the next three cries of up. Offering a wide smile to his two friends he gave them the universal ‘thumbs up for a good job’ gesture.

The lesson passed with little incident after that, Harry kept his friends calm as he could when the time came for them to lift off into the air. His broom, being the worst of the group of three that he and his friends had chosen to ride, had had a bit of trouble when he lifted off. He felt that it had immediately started to lift higher than it should have and quickly called out for Madam Hooch. She flew up on her own broom and coached him on the proper way to land and then he sat in the grass with Neville and Hermione, both of them using the excuse of a fear of heights in order to sit out.

\-----

Dinner was as quiet an affair as one could have in a school full of children. A few students had heard about Harry’s mishap with in class with his broom, and honestly he was getting rather tired of some of the people that thought it funny to taunt him. Finally fed up with it he stood from his spot, startling his two friends and walking farther along the table to where Percy Weasley was sitting with a few of his year mates and tapped him on the shoulder, waiting politely for the older boy to stop his conversation before speaking to him.

“Pardon me Weasley-senpai, but as you are the oldest student that I know, I thought it best to ask you this question,” he stated as soon as the older boy had turned to him. “Why does the school not get brooms that are a slightly better quality than the brooms they have now? I am unsure if you have heard the rumers that have been going around, but there was a bit of an incident with my broom during my flying lesson, would it not be wise to get new brooms. I know that there are probably some old Hogwarts students that play on professional teams that would be willing to donate old brooms if the situation were explained to them.”

By the time he finished Percy was looking quite shocked while the boy who sat beside him, a sturdy looking fifth-year who had brown hair and eyes, looked thoughtful. “You’re Harry Potter right?” He spoke up, making his question sound like a statement. Harry nodded anyway and the still unnamed boy smiled and made a space for Harry to sit beside him. Holding out his hand to him as the first-year sat down. “Oliver Wood, Capitan of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Now about this idea…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Shi, according to Wikipedia, is used in formal speech/writing in order to refer to a person or persons that the speaker has never meet before, pr that they barely know.


	11. Chapter 11

**Dated October 30** **th** **1991**

The day before Halloween Harry was rather reserved. He knew that tomorrow marked the day that his parents were murdered, and he also knew that this would be his first year since he was adopted as a Taniyama that he would not have Mai and her perpetual cheer beside him. So, yes, Harry potter seemed to be very reserved, a fact that his friends did not fail in noticing, so he should not have been surprised when they sat down next to him as he sat in the owlrey.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione was the one that broke the silence that surrounded the group of three. She had turned to look at Harry where the group sat leaning against the wall in a spot that was free of droppings. Harry didn't respond to her, only stared blankly at the opposite wall. "Harry…" Hermione tried again, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"This is going to be my first Halloween since I got adopted that my sister will not be by my side to help me," Harry finally spoke up after a moment. "Its…odd…to be away from her, she was the one that sat with me the first Halloween there…the first Halloween that I knew what happened."

Neville got a look of understanding and crouched in front of Harry, placing his hand on his other shoulder. "Harry, me and Hermione will be here for you now, You can always write your sister, I'm sure that she would love to hear from you anyway. We can even ask McGonagall if we could be excused from the feast tomorrow," Neville said softly, surprising both his friends at his thoughtfulness, though, truly, they should not have been surprised by it, after all Neville was the sweetest boy out there according to some.

Harry looked thoughtful at his words, glancing between his two friends. "Do you think Professor McGonagall would let us visit my parent's grave tomorrow? I….I want you two to come with me if she does…" he mumbled the last bit quietly.

Hermione had a look of shock on her face at Harry's words, Neville had a small smile on his face. "Why don't we go ask her, she should be in her office right now," Neville smiled at harry and stood up, offering him a hand up.

**Same Day, About ten minutes later**

The Gryffindor trio stood nervously outside of their Head of House's office, Harry was shifting slightly from foot to foot and wringing his hands together. The three looked at each other before Hermione finally steeled herself and knocked on the door three times. She stepped back nervously to stand beside her two friends.

"Enter," McGonagall's crisp tone sounded through the door and the trio gave each other one last glance before stepping forwards to brave the professor. "Ahh, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger, what can I do for you?" she asked, looking up from the essay that she had been grading.

Harry looked at his friends before taking a half step forwards in order to talk to McGonagall. "Ma'am, I…we, were wondering if we might be excused from afternoon classes and the Halloween Feast in order to visit my parent's graves. I do not think that I could handle all the laughter and joy that the holiday brings right now. Before now on every Halloween my sister would keep me company in silent reflection. My friends offered to keep me company tomorrow as it is the anniversary of my birth parent's death…" Harry trailed off here and looked down at the floor and so missed the flash of sadness that showed on McGonagall's face. Neville and Hermione saw it though and glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes before turning their attention back to their professor.

"Mr. Potter, I have no problem with this, but I will need to talk to your other professors and the Headmaster about this. You will need an adult to escort you to Godric's Hollow if you wish to visit your parent's graves," she said in her usual stern tone, though it did seem to have a softer edge to it than usual.

Neville stepped forwards here in order to talk. "I can ask my Gran if she could escort us to visit Harry's parent's grave site. I'm sure that she could get my Uncle Algie to come along with us as well if you wanted another adult to watch over us."

McGonagall looked thoughtful about this for a second before she half nodded to herself. "I will allow this, I shall floo call your Grandmother Mr. Longbottom in order to ask her about escorting you to Godric's Hollow. I will inform you three of the final decision at dinner," she stated in her usual crisp tone. "And Mr. Potter, neither you nor your friends will be required to attend the feast, food will be provided for you in the common room if the Headmaster does not allow you to visit Godric's Hollow."

Harry nodded at her to let her know that he understood what she had said and then exited the room with Hermione and Neville trailing behind him.

**Dated October 31** **st** **1991**

Harry, Hermione and Neville were standing in front of the Headmaster's office, they had been granted permission to go to Godric's Hollow under the supervision of Neville's Gran and had been instructed to meet her in the Headmaster's office. The only problem was that they had not been told the password in order to gain entrance to said office and so were standing outside of it in puzzlement. Well they were doing that until the Muggle Studies Professor, Burbage, or whatever her name was, took pity on them and opened the entrance for them. Harry thanked her quietly and then stepped onto the moving staircase.

"Harry," Hermione said quietly, stepping up next to him on the staircase. "I hope you don't mind, but I made something to give to your parents." She held up two paper roses that were made from colorful tissue paper, the kind that people tended to line gift bags with. Harry smiled at the nervous looking girl beside him and gave her a quick one armed hug.

"Thank you, Hermione," He said softly as they stepped off of the staircase. Neville smiled too and silently handed Harry a Wizarding photo.

"I thought that they might like this picture, it's the three of us together, I had it enchanted so that it looks like a still photo to muggles," he said silently, placing one hand on Harry's shoulder in silent support. Harry smiled at him and had just raised his hand to knock on the door when it opened, revealing Headmaster Dumbledore sitting behind his desk and Madam Augusta Longbottom sitting before it.

"Ahh, Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, Miss Granger, you are just on time. Lemon Drop?" the elderly Headmaster said with a smile, gesturing to a bowl of the candies on his desk.

"No thank you, Headmaster, but we appreciate the offer," Harry said politely before turning towards Madam Longbottom. "You must be Madam Longbottom. Neville has spoken highly of you and I must say that it is an honor to meet you." His words were formal, and perfectly acceptable for meeting the Matron of an Old Family. "I am Harry Potter-Taniyama, and the charming young witch that will be accompanying us is Miss Hermione Granger," he added as he took the offered hand that Madam Longbottom had held out to him and placed a kiss on the back of it.

"Neville has spoken highly of you as well Heir Potter. I must say I am relieved to hear that he has such good friends as you two. He has spoken highly of you as well Miss Granger," Madam Longbottom had the smallest of smiles on her lips as she looked over the three children before her. "Now, before we leave, I would like to inform you of what we all have planned for this evening. We will first go to Godric's Hollow and visit your parent's grave Mr. Potter, after that we will retire to Longbottom Manor where we shall have tea and rest up. Dinner will also be had at the Manor and you shall be returned to the school at 8 pm sharp. We will be taking a portkey to get to Godric's Hollow. When it is time to land try to remember to bend your knees a bit so as not to fall," she informed them with a crisp tone that they were used to hearing from Professor McGonagall. "Now I need all of you to take a hold of this rope and we shall be off." The three children all did as instructed and each grabbed onto a section of the rope offered to them. "Very good, now, Lion's Pride."

Simultaneously the three felt the sensation of their hands being stuck to the portkey and a jerk behind their navels then they were whisked away.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be a bit different as I am going to tell part of it from a separate P.O.V. (first person objective P.O.V.) This is for the advancement of the plot.
> 
> "Talking" – English
> 
> _"Talking" – Japanese_

**Dated October 31** **st** **1991**

**Godric's Hollow (Normal P.O.V.)**

Harry, Neville, Hermione and Madam Augusta Longbottom landed in a small patch of land that the ministry had warded for the purposes of apparation and portkeying. The three children stumbled slightly upon landing, but quickly regained their balance, Harry ended up being the most well balanced out of the three as he remembered some lesions in self defense he took as a child that taught how to keep your balance after a fall and roll move. Madam Longbottom smiled at the three of them, secretly proud that they had managed to keep their balance so well for their first time using a portkey.

"Alright now you three, we are going to go and visit the church yard now. I want all of you on your best behavior, do not wander away from me and do not talk to any strangers," Madam Longbottom fixed each of the three children with a stern gaze, waiting for their confirmation before she would move on.

Harry looked right back at her and gave her a tiny smile and a nod that he understood, Hermione said a slightly breathless "Yes, ma'am" at the same time Neville said "Of course, Gran."

A small smile could be seen at the corner of the woman's mouth, her eyes softened a bit too as she looked at the children. She removed three shrunken flowers from her hand bag as well as some incense.

"The Longbottom family has some associates in Japan, and I believe they honor their dead by burning incense for them. This was you mother and father's favorite scent here, I thought you might like to embrace some aspect of the culture that you grew up with," She said, her voice uncharacteristically soft as she unshrunk the flowers and incense and handed them to the children. "We can't be seen doing magic in public here, the village is half muggle and the graveyard is on the sight of a muggle church."

Neville was the first to take the flower offered to him, followed by Hermione. Harry had tears gathered in the corners of his eyes, gratitude shining brightly there. He nearly launched himself at the Matron of the Longbottom family to embrace her in a hug. Needless to say she was very surprised by the action before her motherly instincts, that all women who give birth have, kicked in and she returned the hug to the boy. Neville and Hermione shared a look with each other before moving to gently place a hand on Harry's shoulder (Neville) and rub soothing circles on his back (Hermione).

"S-sorry," Harry mumbled after a moment, taking a step back from Madam Longbottom and pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his eyes. "Forgive me for any indiscretion Madam Longbottom. I am afraid that I got a bit overwhelmed by my emotions, it has been a long time that someone other than my sister or our guardian has shown any thought like that."

Madam Longbottom could almost feel her heart breaking at the boy's words, a feat, I might add, that she thought impossible after her son and daughter in law were tortured into insanity. "Mr. Potter, Harry, may I call you Harry?" Harry nodded and looked at the woman who had started to speak with a much softer tone than she had before, writing for her to find the words that she seemed to be struggling with finding. "First of all, you have caused no offense to me, you are still a child, no matter how mature for your age you act, you are, in fact, a child. Turbulent emotions are understandable, you lost your birth parents on this day, you are away from your sister for the first time in years, this must feel very foreign for you, considering that most of your developmental years were spent in Japan and not England. I am not angry at you, Harry. In fact, I would like to tell you something, Alice, Neville's mother, was named as your Godmother, so Longbottom Manor is always open to you and your sister to visit."

Harry smiled at the woman at the end of her mini speech and hugged her again, saying 'thank you' over and over again. He smiled and took the flower from her, examining the delicate looking thing. It was a violet, a simple flower really, but with its own simple beauty, for some reason he knew that his mother would have loved these flowers, and that if he was born a girl he probably would have been named after a flower of some sort.

**The Grave Yard, Godric's Hollow (Ignotus Peverell's P.O.V.)**

Once again I was sitting by my grave, invisible to the mortal flesh of the world, death as my only companion as I waited for my descendant to return. I had no doubts that he would return after all. Today was All Hallow's Eve, this is a day when the lines between the mortal and the immortal worlds blurred. It was not just for the dead as many would have you believe, but also for the gods and goddesses, the faeries and any other mischievous or otherwise somewhat malevolent sprits and entities to roam. Today was the day I could deliver my message to him without the aid of my old friend death.

Movement by the gate leading into the cemetery caught my attention. My attention was drawn to three young Magicals, accompanied by an older Magical. She was obviously a stern woman, though she seemed at ease around the children, who I now noticed carried simple flowers, a violet, a Gardena and a poppy. A small smiled tugged at my lips as I gazed at the children, my eyes scanning over them once more before becoming riveted on the black haired boy holding the violet. He was my descendant, I could feel it in my not really their bones….it probably helped that I had seen him here before, though then I had been disguised as an old caretaker and had talked about myself.

I watched them as they drew closer to me, the woman was explaining to the children about the grave yard and they were all wandering through the graves, looking at names, seeing who they recognized and who they did not. It was as they were passing by my grave that I allowed myself to become visible to them. It goes without saying that they were all startled by my seemingly sudden appearance, the woman even went so far as to push the children behind her and draw her wand on me.

"I mean you no harm Madam, I come only to deliver a message to my descendant and the rightful heir to the Peverell line," my voice was rough, oddly enough considering that I didn't have vocal chords that could dry out…I didn't really have anything that could dry out if you thought about it. "Harry Potter, you are the rightful heir to the Peverell family, with that comes some family magiks that can help you on your journey, I would suggest you visit the Goblins, young Heir. To prove your claim to the Peverell Line simply show them this. Good bye young Heir, and good luck on your journey."

With that I placed my ghostly hand on his left wrist and left the mark that myself and my brothers had developed as children. I faded out of sight, though I remaned behind to watch as the child grimaced, magical marks usually being slightly painful.

The elder woman and my decendant's friends practically mobbed the pore child, the woman casting some notice-me-not charms, and running diagnostics on the boy to check for any damage to his body.

The child, for his part, only shrugged and looked right at me, well probably at my grave, and said cryptically, "He was a friend of Death," before walking on to his parent's Graves.

**(Back to our normal P.O.V. now)**

Harry looked at the marking on his wrist, so distracted by it was he, he would have walked right into someone had they not stopped him. He flushed bright red as he looked up at the grinning boy before him. "Sorry," he muttered softly, captivated by the face of the boy for some reason, feeling like he looked familiar. "Please forgive me for almost running into you."

The strange boy just grinned even wider, his blue eyes glittering with amusement. "No need to apologize, my family and I were just honoring a couple that my mother used to be friends with." He seemed to have a perpetual smiled on his face, though Harry guessed that the smile would usually be bigger and brighter than it was at the moment.

"GENE!" both boys turned to see another boy that looked identical to the one that Harry ran into, who was apparently named Gene. Accompanying the boy at a much more sedate pace was a man and a woman, possibly the boys' parents. The woman took one look at Harry and her jaw dropped, eyes flashing in recognition "J-James?" the name left her lips at a whisper, yet Harry heard it none the less and he nearly gave himself whiplash as he turned to look at the woman. "No, not James, then you must be his son, you look like him, though you have your mother's eyes….and her nose…"

Harry blinked and looked around himself, noting that Hermione Neville and Madam Longbottom were standing a ways away from them, looking on in interest, though Hermione seemed to be worrying at her lip a bit. "I am terribly sorry ma'am, but have we met before?" The three people who had just shown up looked shocked at his slightly accented words.

" _Oh, interesting, he doesn't sound like he is from England, dear Noll,"_ the first twin, Gene, said to his brother, who only rolled his eyes at him. Harry, however, smirked slightly, recognizing the language the boy used as Japanese.

" _If you are speaking about technicalities you could say that I am both from England and not as I lived a majority of my developmental years in Japan."_ Harry smirked at the gob smacked looks on both boys' faces. Hermione was frowning at him in disapproval and Neville had rolled his eyes at the antics of his friend.

"Harry," Hermione began in her 'you-are-doing-something-wrong-and-you-know-it' voice. "It is very rude to tease others or otherwise shock them, even if they probably did deserve it, given the tone in that boy's voice was very much like the Weasley Twins when they are getting up to no good. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, pleasure to meet you. These are my friends and schoolmates, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. The lovely woman with us is Neville's Grandmother, Madam Longbottom." Hermione introduced herself and the others without missing a beat, holding her hand out to the slightly closer twin, Gene.

He blinked several times before taking her hand and planting a kiss on the back of it, causing her to blush as he grinned at her. "Eugene Davis, this is my Idiot Scientist of a brother, Oliver, and our parents, Mum and Dad." He said, then added in a stage whisper, "we aren't allowed to call them by their first names, so you might as well start calling them Mum and Dad."

Oliver was scowling at his brother and Harry could see his mother rolling her eyes at his antics. "Luella and Martin." She said, giving her and her husband's names and shaking hands with Madam Longbottom. "May I ask you if your parents were Lily and James Potter, Mister Harry Potter." The question was unexpected and made Harry blink and pause as she studied the woman before him.

"They were, though I was adopted by a couple in Japan and now I am known as Harry Potter-Taniyama. May I know why you asked?"

Luella got a sad little smile on her face as she looked at Harry. "Your mother and I were friends as children and we kept in touch throughout her schooling. I got to be a bride's maid in her wedding too. I was at your christening and smiled when they made Sirius your Godfather. I'm sad to say that they seemed to have had to go into hiding early on in your life, though Peter was nice enough to tell us where their house was at."

Luella had tears in her eyes and sniffled a bit, leaning into her Husband's embrace as he wrapped an arm around her. Madam Longbottom had looked up when the woman said that Peter had been the one to tell them where they could find the Potters at. Everyone simply _knew_ that Sirius Black had been the Potter's Secret Keeper…hadn't he? But then, why would _Peter_ have been the one to tell this seemingly charming couple where to find the Potters. The elder Longbottom frowned at her thoughts and what this could possibly mean about the incarceration of one Sirius Black, though she felt her gaze soften as she saw young Harry Potter give away a clean handkerchief to the Davis woman so that she could dry her eyes.

"Pardon me Madam, but did you say that Peter told you where to find the Potters at?" Madam Longbottom asked the other woman who nodded her head in a yes, though she was busy looking at her son and the Potter's child through the corner of her eye, noting that they seemed to get on well, Oliver and the girl that was with the young Potter were debating the scientific applications that different plants had, with occasional input from the Longbottom boy. "That is interesting, considering that Sirius Black was convicted as an accessory to their murders, I must look into this, but I thank you for telling me about Peter, I am afraid that we shall have to cut our conversation short, we have a schedule we must stick to."

"Oh, of course, Gene, Noll, let's give them some privacy now boys. Oh, and Mr. Potter, if you ever want to hear any stories about your mother when we were kids, don't hesitate to give me a call," Luella said holding out a business card to Harry, who graciously took it and smiled at the woman.

Harry's eyes lingered on the family as they departed, before he turned back to his friends to see that Hermione had a knowing smirk on her lips and that Neville was giving him an odd look. "What?" he asked oh so eloquently as they walked the rest of the way to his parents graves.

**Longbottom Manor**

The children and Madam Longbottom had spent an hour at the grave yard, Harry had introduced his friends to his mum and dad and they had sat there as they recounted to the grave how they had met and some of the things that they had gotten up to in school and what they were learning in classes, before Madam Longbottom had ushered them off so that they could make their tea time and clean up for supper. Now that they were at the Manor Neville had taken his friends on a tour of the house and to the greenhouse that they had on the grounds. The elderly Matron of the Longbottom household allowed herself a small smile as she thought of the three children, they were good for each other, she could tell, she knew that she had not done well in raising Neville as she had, but it was hard when he looked so much like his parents and the wounds were still fresh in her mind.

She heard the distant approach of feet on the flagstone floors of the entrance hall, moving quickly onto carpeting and felt her lips quirk up at the corner as the three children burst into the room, lead by Hermione. "Madam Longbottom!" she exclaimed with an air of breathless excitement, her eyes shining with excitement, "We have just visited your Library and I must say I simply adore the choices that you have here! I did want to ask you thought if I might borrow a book on your children's stories, as I have heard that they are much different from the ones that I grew up with," she rushed out the rest of her sentence and stood there breathless and with shining eyes as the boys tried and failed not to burst out laughing at the enthusiasm of their friend when she discovered the Library. Said girl only huffed at their antics and turned up her nose at them, ignoring them entirely now and sending a pleading look at the elder witch.

"Please call me Augusta dear," she smiled as she looked at the children, watching as Harry and Neville gathered their wits and sat on the couch, as the two chairs in the room had been claimed by the women. "The same goes to you Heir Potter," she added as a silent House Elf passed out cups of tea to each of the room's occupants and left a plate of biscuits on the table for them all.

"Please, call me Harry then Madam Augusta," Harry returned her smile and grabbed a biscuit to go along with his tea.

"Alright then Harry, I am sure that you are wondering why I was surprised that Mrs. Davis said that Peter Pettigrew told her where she could visit with your parents before their deaths?" Augusta looked over the rim of her tea cup as she gauged the reaction of the boy before her, he just gave a slight nod of his head to indicate that he was listening to her, but said nothing. "Ten years ago your parents went into hiding, employing the use of an old charm to bind the secret of their location to an individual person. The only way that this person may divulge the secret of their location is if they willingly give it away. The charm is known as the Fedilius Charm, and the person the location is bound to is the Secret Keeper. When your parents went into hiding the Wizarding World at large believed that they had asked Sirius Black to be their Secret Keeper, and so, when they died Black was thrown into Azkaban, but it seems that that may have been a mistake. If Black had been the one to hold the secret then he would have been the one to have told Mrs. Davis about the location of you and your parents."

The room was silent, each of the children deep in thought, ad all thinking along the same lines, if Sirius Black was innocent could they get him out of prison and into a trial?

**Hogwarts 8.05pm**

The group had discussed long into the allotted time they had at Longbottom Manor the plights that seemed to have come up with this Sirius Black issue. Augusta Longbottom had even Floo Called Madam Bones and had found out that the man had never even gotten a trial. All were sad to cut it short, but now they were back they were shocked to find that they had barely missed a Troll being in the dungeons and then somehow finding itself in a girls bathroom on the second floor…three floors away from the dungeons. Harry was questioning what that was about as they were escorted back to Gryffindor Tower by a flustered looking McGonagall.


	13. Chapter 13

**Dated November 1** **st** **1991**

Harry could not remember the last time he had been so utterly bored in a class, he could feel his eyes drooping down more and more as the monotone voice of Professor Binns floated through the room. Neville had long since fallen asleep and honestly Harry felt that he was not that far behind him. Hermione seemed to be the only one that was managing to stay awake. She was furiously scribbling notes at a pace that had Harry astounded, how could she manage to take new notes on the same lesson they had heard yesterday?

He was so focused on his friend that he did not notice that Olga had flown into the room until she nipped at his finger. Wincing he sucked on the small bit of blood that had been drawn by the predatory bird and gave her a treat as a distraction so that he could retrieve his letter from her. Hermione had paused in her note taking to stare at the huge owl, poking Neville awake with the end of a biro that she kept with her 'for sentimental reasons.' He startled awake and nearly threw himself backwards at seeing such a huge owl in front of him. For her part Olga just ruffled her feathers in irritation and seemed to sniff at him as she turned her face up and away in an obvious gesture of 'I am better than you.' Harry ignored the antics of his two friends and his owl and smiled at the letter.

"Who's it from Harry?" Neville whispered, leaning over to look at the letter that was addressed to 'Harry Taniyama' in a distinctly female script.

"My sister, Olga must have traveled a long way to get it to me. Why don't you go get some rest girl? I will have a reply by tomorrow if you're up to flying that soon after a long trip," he gave the owl before him an affectionate pat as she gave a soft hoot and flew out the open window that she had come in. "I wrote to her after Halloween about what we should do about Christmas, I don't want to spend it away from her, not if I can make it home."

Neville and Hermione nodded in agreement and watched as Harry opened the letter and read it, a smile growing over his face as he read it.

"Mai says she can come to England! We are going to ask the house elves the Potters have to clean one of the smaller homes that I have here and then use it for Christmas! If you two have time over the holidays we should all meet up somewhere!" Harry smiled broadly at his two friends, his enthusiasm spreading out to them.

Hermione smiled, as did Neville, though he was still groggy from his brief nap. "Oh that would be lovely Harry!" she whisper-shouted as she gave him an enthusiastic hug. Unfortunately the activity on their side of the room attracted the attention of one Draco Malfoy.

The blond Slytherin had leaned over his desk to get a better look at the three Gryffindors when Olga had flown into the room. His eyes narrowed at the letter and the soft chatter of the three friends, he honestly felt a small pang at the kinship that they had with each other, such close companionship on their parts. Sometimes he found himself wishing to have something like that, real friends, not just the alliances of the snake pit.

"Pst, hey Potter," he hissed out to the other boy, adopting the usual sneer that the children of Slytherin wore when speaking to those who are 'lesser' than them. "Potter!" he tried again when he failed to gain the attention of his chosen target.

With a sigh Harry decided it would be better for the peace of the class if he were to answer the somewhat annoying child. "Yes, Malfoy- _shi_ , how can I help you?" He half turned in his seat to face the blond.

Not getting the rise out of the Gryffindor that he had expected Malfoy was left to blinking in slight astonishment. "Who's the letter from Potter?" he asked with a sneer once he had gotten over his slight shock, "What do you have a boyfriend or something?"

Hermione and Neville were looking ready to rip Malfoy's face off at this point while Harry just calmly sat back and looked at the other boy, saying nothing to him.

"Well Potter?" Malfoy tried again to get a rise out of the raven haired wizard, feeling rather uncomfortable with the way that the other was just remaining stoically silent.

"Malfoy- _shi,_ I do not believe that it is any of your business whom I correspond with, that is unless, of course, you are jealous that someone else is taking my attention away from you?" Harry said after he deemed the silence to have stretched on long enough. Neville and Hermione smiled and gave him a thumbs up while Malfoy was left gaping like a fish.

**Dated November 2** **nd** **1991**

It was a Saturday and therefore a free day. Hermione and Neville were going over some last minute homework in the common room that Harry had finished the night before. Ron Wesley was playing chess and Seamus Finnagan and Dean Thomas were playing with a soccer ball in the corridor near the common room. This left Harry to his own devices, which he did not mind at all, as this gave him time to think and, the best way that he had to think was to take a walk, so take a walk he did. A light drizzle had started outside the castle, keeping most children inside, in either their common rooms or in the library, so Harry headed to some of the lesser used corridors, those mostly being in the lower levels of the castle.

He wandered past the Great Hall and through a door that he had seen the Hufflepuffs using before, he guessed that they had their common rooms down this way somewhere. Walking slowly and deep in thought Harry did not notice the person in front of him until he ran into them, landing painfully on his bottom and finding himself staring up at a Hufflepuff third year with kind grey eyes and brown hair that looked sort of windblown.

"Watch out there Potter," the boy said, offering out his hand to help the younger student, a small smile on his face. "Wouldn't want you to get injured now would we? I'm Cedric Diggory, by the way, sorry, should have introduced myself before saying yours, shouldn't I have?"

Harry blinked and stared blankly at the other boy's hand before chuckling and accepting the help up. "Thank you Mr. Diggory, I'm Harry Potter, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance…umm, could you possibly help me find something though? You see I was trying to see if I could find the kitchens to get an apple or something to have as a light snack, I skipped out on breakfast this morning…" Harry smiled sheepishly as the older boy tilted his head to the side to study him.

"Hmm, I suppose I could help with that, the House Elves would throw a fit if they knew that a student hadn't eaten breakfast…how about we just not tell them that detail though," Cedric threw a conspiratorial wink at Harry with the last bit of what he said, Harry just gave a sheepish grin and followed behind as the older boy showed him the way to the kitchens, explaining a bit about the castle as he went along.

"Ok, here's the kitchen, you just have to tickle the pear to get in, just keep in mind that the house elves are very eager to please and will be quite prompt about getting you what you want, well I gotta run to the library, Snape set an essay that's gonna take a while to get done, bye Potter!" With that Cederic ran off and left Harry tickling a pear to get mobbed by house elves.

The very first thing that Harry saw when he entered into the kitchens was a silent Draco Malfoy without his personal body guards at his sides. The next thing he saw was the big, shining blue eyes of a house elf who was tottering dangerously on a pile of cookbooks. Harry took a small step backwards when the slightly luminescent eyes took over his entire field of vision.

"What cans we be getting the young master?" the elf squeaked, drawing the attention of about a dozen more elves who looked up and clamored on about what they could get for the young master. "Would you bes liking some tea?" "We has some nice apple pie young sir!" they all clamored one after another. Harry could honestly say that he felt a little bit thrown off by the elves' eagerness.

"Umm, could I just get an apple please?" he finally managed to get out above the clamoring voices.

Immediately about ten different apples were presented to him and he found himself with a literal bushel of apples and in a seat across from Malfoy. He placed most of the apples on the table and blinked at the blond across from him.

"How did that just happen?" the words slipped out before he could stop them, causing the blond, who was already on the brink of laughter, to nearly burst a seam with his laughs. "I'm glad I could amuse," Harry said through a bite of a Fuji Apple.

Malfoy waved a hand at him to try and get him to stay where he was at. "Oh dear Merlin Potter, that was probably the funniest thing that I have seen all day. You should have seen the look on your face, priceless, ha. Too funny, Potter, too funny!"

There was a slight pink tinge to the Slytherin's cheeks and he seemed to be wearing a genuine smile, so Harry let the laughter at his expense slide, instead he gave the other boy a small smile.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot Malfoy, you don't seem that bad a fellow, when you aren't prancing about like an albino peacock that is."

Malfoy let out a rather uncouth snort of laughter at this comparison, startling Harry and quite a few of the house elves that were nearby. A few of the small creatures even backed away from the table slowly, as if afraid the volatile blond would turn on them. Harry just stared at him with wide eyes, his half eaten apple now forgotten in his hand.

"Dear Merlin Potter, if only you knew what you had just said," he managed to get out around his laughter. "Perhaps you are right, we did get off on the wrong foot. Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy, I'm a first year Slytherin."

"Harry Potter, first year in Gryffindor, pleasure to make your acquaintance Malfoy," Harry grinned broadly and held his hand out to the blond. "You can just call me Harry though."

Malfoy took the proffered hand and with a grin of his own firmly shook the other boy's hand. "You can call me Draco."

With that out of the way the two first years fell into an easy and friendly debate over their last defense lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry/Gene, Mai/Naru, Hermione/Draco and Neville/Luna other pairings between different characters may be decided at a later date, but these will be the final pairings


	14. Chapter 14

**Dated November 9** **th** **1991**

Harry, Hermione and Neville had quickly become friends of a sort with Draco Malfoy, ever since that last Saturday that Harry and Draco had made peace with each other in the kitchens. At first the friendship was…shocking…to say the least, what with the animosity between the student's two houses, not to mention the fact that two of the four aforementioned people were usually seen as being of 'lesser' blood status than the heir to the Malfoy family. Often people would find the group of four sitting in the library, working on homework or some other such project, though currently they were sitting in the kitchens having a small family style breakfast between them.

"I simply don't understand the appeal of shivering in the cold and damp out there to watch some silly game that people have gone missing from before," Hermione was, surprisingly, the one to break the silence between the group that morning.

Today was the day of the infamous 'Gryffindor v. Slytherin' Quidditch match, and, frankly, the girl could not see the appeal in the sport. The rules were complicated and she simply did not care for the fact that the whole thing happened in the air…on brooms…with no sort of safety harness or anything. I mean really what is the point of risking life and limb for something as silly as a ball game?

The three boys barely held in a sigh, having heard this rant before (along with one about how living beings should not be forced to serve others, magical bonds or not, but we won't go into that issue at this moment in time).

"Come on Mione, we have the bet to look forwards to, remember?" Neville was the one to speak up this time, a glint in his eye at the prospect of the bet that the four of them had entered. "We have to be there, if Slytherin loses then Draco has to go up to Professor McGonagall and tell her that she makes a very lovely cat."

Both Harry and Neville laughed at the disgusted look on the face of the blond boy across from them.

"But then again, if we lose then you two have to go and ask Professor Dumbledore if you can borrow some of his robes as you think they are absolutely smashing and that his fashion sense is simply the best of the best and no one is possibly on par with it," Hermione's words wiped the grins off of the boy's faces, causing them to instead scowl slightly at her.

"Mia has a point," Draco finally spoke up, wearing the trademark Slytherin smirk that seemed to be a standard in the house of the snake. "I will still never understand how you managed to get out of the bet though Mia, you must truly be a Slytherin at heart."

Hermione sniffed and turned up her nose at the boy decked out in green and silver stood beside her. "Yes, well that would be for me to know and you to never find out."

With that the bushy haired lioness turned and stalked from the kitchens, haughtily tossing the end of her scarf over her shoulder, 'accidentally' smacking Draco in the face with it as she did so.

"Hey!" the exclamation of protest, predictably, came from the blond that had just been assaulted by red and gold knit. Harry and Neville both smirking at the other boy, looking at each other and standing to follow their fellow lion, leaving the snake spluttering to himself and being fretted over by a multitude of house elves.

**After the Quidditch game**

"Wow!" Hermione said with a breathless voice, looking at her two friends who sat either side of her. "That was actually more interesting than I thought that it would be."

The three Gryffindors had sat in the stands together, near where the large form of Hagrid had sat, often chatting with the large man during the game and borrowing his binoculars in order to see something going on in the game a bit better.

"You can certainly say that again Mione, though I wish Mai had been here to see it."

"The only problem now is that we have to go up to Dumbledore and ask to borrow his robes…Why couldn't Slytherin have lost?" Neville bemoaned the loss that the Gryffindor team had suffered and looked across the stands at the Slytherin section and could almost swear that he had seen a certain blond boy flashing a triumphant grin at the Gryffindors.

**Dated November 23** **rd** **1991**

Harry and Neville looked at each other before taking a deep breath and walking up to the head table in the middle of dinner. Hermione watched them go with a small smirk, her eyes sparking with mischief and drawing the attention of a certain set of red headed twins.

Over at the Slytherin table a certain blond boy had the ultimate shit-eating grin on his face, smirking at the two Gryffindors as they caught the attentions of the headmaster.

"Pardon us professor, but we had a request of you….sir," Harry spoke up, giving a slightly respectful bow to the older man.

"Do speak up my boy!" Dumbledore, as always, spoke with a beaming smile and a damned twinkle in his eyes.

"Sir, we have been admiring from a distance the robes that you wear," Neville spoke up now, though his face was flushed a bright red at the attentions from everyone looking at him and Harry.

"We were wondering, sir, where you got them from and if we might borrow some from you. We do so admire your sense of fashion and would love nothing more than to emulate you in all aspects of life."

Dumbledore smiled at the two boys before him, a tear actually falling from his eye to land in his beard as the hall around them erupted into laughter, making his reply lost in the chaos. Both McGonagall and Snape, however, were paling at the similarity of the boys to a certain set of pranksters that had ruled the school before…no they defiantly did not want another set of Marauders on their hands here.


	15. Chapter 15

**Dated December 14** **th** **1991**

"You guys sure that you will be able to come over?" Harry asked for the umpteenth time that day.

The four friends were sitting in a compartment on the train towards the back, making and finalizing plans that they had for made with each other for winter break.

"Yes Harry, we will all stop by on Boxing Day. We can exchange gifts with each other then. Mum and Dad Say that they will get Neville and I home safe too so don't worry too much, I'm sure that we will all get along well with your sister."

Hermione smiled at her overly worried friend and placed a hand on his shoulder watching as he let out a breath and smiled at her.

"Yeah, your right."

**Dated December 24** **th** **1991**

"HEY HARRY, AN OWL JUST CAME FOR YOU!"

Harry rolled out of his bed with a muffled thunk at the shout from his sister. Cursing at nothing in particular and standing up so that he could grab his glasses from the table beside him and placing them on. He vaguely wondered who the owl could possibly be from, but shrugged it off and wandered down to where his sister was still tweaking things on the tree that the house elves had provided for them to use.

"Perch," she said without looking away from the tinsel she held in hand.

Harry shuffled over to the bird in question and untied the letter from his leg, absently giving him a treat as he broke the unfamiliar seal holding the parchment together.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_You and one extra are invited to the New Year's party that will be held by the Davis family on December 31_ _st_ _. Attire should be semi-formal and dinner shall be served promptly at 6pm. Please RSVP no later than December 27_ _th_ _._

_Sincerely,_

_Lady Davis_

"…Hey Mai, how would you like to go to a new year's party as my plus one?"

Mai looked away from the tree and gave a smile at her brother, tossing tinsel over him by accident as she went to hug him.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Harry laughed.

**Dated December 26** **th** **1991**

Harry and Mai sat in the parlor where they had set up the tree waiting for the others to arrive so they could celebrate Christmas with their friends. Mai jumped a pit when a hose elf popped up in front of her to inform them that a guest was at the entrance.

"Let them in, it's Probably Hermione," Harry smiled at the little creature, earning an answering smile in turn.

"Yes Sir, Master Harry," the little squeaked out before popping away again.

"I don't think I will ever get used to them doing that," Mai muttered, placing a hand over her heart.

Harry snorted a laugh through his nose and opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by Hermione's voice.

"I'm Right there with you," she smiled at Mai and held out her hand to the other girl. "I'm Hermione, by the way."

Mai smiled back and took the offered hand. "Mai Taniyama, but you probably already knew that. I have to say it's a pleasure being able to meet one of Harry's friends, he writes all about you in his letters home!"

"Oh, I didn't know you loved us that much Potter," a smooth voice drawled out from behind the group, causing Mai to jump slightly and Harry and Hermione to roll their eyes and turn to face the door way. Draco Malfoy stood there with Neville and Neville's Grandmother. "Oi, Potter, did you get an invite to the Davis's New Year's party too?" Draco held up an envelope in one hand and waved it lazily back and forth. "I told Tracy that she should invite you as well, said that it would be good to have a new face around, Pansy keeps wanting to distract her with makeup talk."

Harry rolled his eyes and Mai let loose a small giggle, covering her mouth to try and stifle the sound, though she still got a highly offended look from the Malfoy heir.

"Sorry, sorry," she said in between giggles, "Hem, right, sorry. I'm Mai, Harry's sister, you two must be the infamous Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom yes?" Mai waited a beat for the two boys to nod their heads before she smiled happily at the two boys and one adult. "That would make you Neville's Gran? Great! Now that we are all here we can open our gifts, but we are going to do this Taniyama style!" Mai clapped her hands together at the end, causing Hermione to jump slightly before giving a sheepish smile to the group. "If I could just get all of you to sit before the tree here, Madam Longbottom, you can take that chair there if you wish, the rest of us get to sit on the bean bags on the floor."

The children all looked at each other before they launched themselves at the bean bags, Madam Longbottom smiled slightly at the children while taking her seat on the indicated chair, smiling as Mai explained how a 'Taniyama Christmas' worked.


	16. Chapter 16

**Dated December 29** **th** **1991**

Harry stood in Diagon Alley before the imposing marble façade of the wizarding bank Gringotts. He had gotten a letter from them yesterday, stating that It was 'urgent Potter Family business' and even had the stamp at the top that signified that it came from his account manager. There was a slight rustle as Harry once more pulled the letter from the messenger bag he had over his shoulder.

Stamped on the top was the official letter head for Gringott's bank, along with the Potter crest and another symbol that seemed vaguely familiar to him. It wasn't until he looked down at his wrist that he remembered what it was.

_Flashback:_

_Harry was with Hermione, Neville and Neville's gran when it happened._

_The four of them had been walking through the grave yard at Godric's Hollow, looking at the graves and learning a bit of history about the different family names that they found there from Neville's Gran. As they drew closer to one grave that was in some disrepair they noticed the form of a ghost appearing to them. He was perched on the top of the grave, a small smile on his face._

_Harry and his friends jumped at the sudden appearance of the ghost and Lady Augusta pushed the three of them behind her, drawing her wand and pointing it towards the grave._

_"I mean you no harm Madam, I come only to deliver a message to my descendant and the rightful heir to the Peverell line," the ghost had a rough voice, like he hadn't had water in a while and was in need of some. "Harry Potter, you are the rightful heir to the Peverell family, with that comes some family magiks that can help you on your journey, I would suggest you visit the Goblins, young Heir. To prove your claim to the Peverell Line simply show them this. Good bye young Heir, and good luck on your journey."_

_With those last words the ghost turned to Harry and placed his spectral hand upon the young boy's left wrist. Strangely enough, Harry did not feel the icy cold that was usually associated with ghosts, instead he felt as if the spot that the ghostly hand had touched was warm. With that touch the ghost disappeared, leaving behind a strange symbol on Harry's wrist. A triangle with a circle contained within it and a line bisecting the two._

_End flashback._

He and Hermione had researched the mark after that, but the only thing they had found had been an old book of fairy stories, in one particular story about three brothers. The top of the page for the tale of three brothers had the same marking that Harry now had on his wrist, and now that he thought back to it, he could swear that he had seen the marking on the gravestone that the ghost had been sitting n when he had appeared to him.

"OK, it's now or never Harry," he muttered to himself, taking one last glance at the letter before he stuffed it back in his bag and walking into the bank.

**Two Hours Later**

Harry Stepped out of the bank and let out a soft sigh, looking at the stack of papers that he had been given at the conclusion of the meeting with his account manager. The meeting had gone longer than he had first been expecting it to, but then again, he had not been able to go to the bank for most of his life and there were a few things that he had needed to settle with them in order to manage his accounts appropriately. Now, however, he had an order for a dress and a suit to pick up from Madam Malkins.

**Dated December 30** **th** **1991**

"Harry, are you sure that we will be ok at this party tomorrow?" Mai asked for about the fifth time that day as she studied the dress that was hanging up ready for her to wear tomorrow.

"It will be fine Mai," Harry responded in a bored tone of voice, his attention fixed on a packet of papers that he had gotten from the goblins when he had visited the bank the other day. "I promise you that you will be fine, I already contacted Lady Davis and apparently the evening will be entirely magic free. They have a few non magical associates coming to the party, it's for business mostly."

"Oh, right, ok," Mai muttered, going back to staring at the dress that was hung up next to the suit that Harry was supposed to be wearing.

**Dated December 31** **st** **1991**

Harry and Mai arrived at the Davis Manor home at precisely 5.30pm. The siblings stepped out of the car that Harry had hired for them to arrive in as he had not wanted to inconvenience Neville or his Gran for a way to get to the party.

"Welcome to Davis manor, may I take your coats?" A butler asked as soon as the two of them stepped into the main hall.

"Thank you," the two muttered as they handed over the garments. Harry scanned the hall for any sight of his friends and raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of the familiar brown hair and brown eyes that belonged to one of his best friends Hermione Granger, next to her stood none other than Draco Malfoy, his tie matching the periwinkle blue of Hermione's Dress.

"Mai," Harry drew his sister's attention away from her study of the architecture and pointed her towards the, admittedly strange, couple. "Let's go over to them, they, at least, will wish to talk with us."

Harry gently tugged his sister over to where his friends were standing, noticing as he approached that Neville was there as well, talking and laughing with a few other people that Harry recognized from school.

"Hiya, Harry!" Neville greeted when he caught sight of the two approaching the group of young wizards.

"Hey there Neville," Harry smiled as he and Neville gave each other a firm handshake. "Hello Draco, Hermione."

"Mr. Potter," a new voice spoke up behind the group of friends, drawing everyone's attention to a girl standing behind them. She was about their age and dressed in a pretty purple dress behind her stood two boys that seemed to be a few years older than the rest of them. "I'm Tracey Davis, these two with me are my cousins, Oliver and Eugene Davis."

Harry smiled at Tracey, and remembering some of the lessons in etiquette that he had had from various people, brushed his lips against her offered hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Davis, and you as well Messrs. Davis, may I introduce to you my sister, Mai." Harry brought the attention of the group to Mai, who blushed at the attention fixed on her and looked down.

"The pleasure is ours Mr. Potter," It was one of the twins, Oliver, Harry though his name was, that spoke up.

The other one, Eugene, looked from his brother's face to the blushing girl that had been introduced as the Potter Boy's sister. He noticed the faint hint of interest on his brother's face and leaned over to speak lowly to him. _"Ne, Noll, don't you think her blush is super cute,"_ he stage whispered, grinning as his brother glared at him, though the grin was wiped from his face when he noticed that Harry was glaring slightly as well.

" _It's rude to speak of others when they are standing in front of you,"_ Harry grinned a bit at the shock on the faces of those around them, especially the twins. "Actually, I think we may have meet before."

Hermione had a frown on her face, her brows furrowed, using what the boys liked to call her 'thinking-face'. "Ah," she exclaimed, bringing her fist down on her palm in victory, "Halloween, I think we meet you two and your parents in the Graveyard at Godric's Hollow."

Both Boys blinked, looking at each other for a moment before looking at the group before them.

"Oh, right, the blond boy wasn't there though," the second twin, Eugene, spoke up, grinning at the younger children. "But neither was the beauty here that is accompanying the young Mr. Potter." He held out his hand to Mai, who lightly took it, blushing like mad as she did so. "Enchante mademoiselle." He brought her hand to his lips to place a gentle kiss on it, causing Mai to blush like mad and Harry to raise an eyebrow.

" _Eh, T-thank you,"_ Mai blurted out in Japanese, rescuing her hand from the strange boy and blushing even harder. Harry tried his hardest not to laugh too much at the situation, but really, it seemed his sister didn't even realize that she had just spoken in Japanese.

This was already turning out to be an interesting night.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Talking" – English
> 
> _"Talking" – Japanese_

**Dated December 31** **st** **1991, 23:30**

The 'golden group', as some had taken to calling them at school – plus Mai and the Davis children – stood about in a small alcove talking with each other and laughing. Tracey would occasionally duck away from the group in order to play the part of the attentive host. The party was just starting to pick up when music picked up from somewhere and some of the adults moved out onto the dance floor. They moved with a grace that made Mai a bit jealous, wishing that she could move with such grace.

Noticing his sister's slight frown Harry got an idea and, winking at Draco and Neville, walked up to his sister, giving her a slight bow. "May I have this dance?" He asked with an air of formality, holding out his hand to her, still bowed a bit. She giggled and gave a slight curtsy before taking his hand in her own.

"I would be honored to accept," she attempted to speak without giggling and succeeded mostly, a wide grin splitting her face.

Harry smiled at her and led her out onto the dancefloor, sweeping her into the simple steps of the waltz that was playing. Draco grinned at Neville and offered his hand silently to Hermione, who grinned back and accepted, taking his hand in her own and following him to the dancefloor. Poor Neville looked lost until a young girl came up to him, giving him a dreamy smile and offering her hand. He recognized her as the Lovegood child. She would be starting at Hogwarts in the next year. Thinking of being able to welcome someone early into their group he accepted her hand and led her out to the dancefloor.

"Did I know you could dance?" Mai asked Harry as he led her about the dancefloor with graceful steps.

"Nope."

"When did you learn how to dance?"

"Greene- _sensei_ taught me how to dance during that one detention that was not my fault."

"Ah…"

The two lapsed into silence, Mai concentrating on not stepping on Harry's toes and Harry concentrating on his steps. That is until he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see one of the Davis twins standing there, he thought it was the one named Oliver, the other one, Eugene, seemed like the more energetic of the two.

"May I cut in?" The boy he could now identify as Oliver asked, barely waiting for a nod from Harry before sweeping his sister away and into the dance.

Harry grinned to himself and walked to the side of the room where the other half of the dynamic duo sat, leaning against the wall. "Your brother seems to have swept my sister off her feet…literally…" he said, taking a seat next to the admittedly odd boy.

"Yes, he does hold a certain charm, though he refuses to see it. I think he is intrigued by your sister," Eugene grinned at him, turning from the dancers to face the younger boy. "I'm Eugene, by the way, but you can call me Gene."

"Harry," he smiled, holding out his hand for Gene to shake. "It is a pleasure to finally know your name, and to meet you formally."

Gene smiled at Harry and took his hand in his own. "The pleasure is all mine."

"If you do not mind my asking, when we met before, your mother mentioned that she knew my mother, I was wondering if it would be possible to write each other? I don't know much about my mother."

Gene studied Harry carefully, before giving him a bright grin. "Only if you write me too!"

Harry blinked before grinning back at the other boy. "I think I would like that."

The two lapsed into silence as they watched their siblings and friends/acquaintances dancing about the floor.

**Dated January 4** **th** **1992**

Harry sat in the Great Hall next to Neville and Hermione, the two boys teasing her about dancing with Draco for the whole New Year's party. Each had a large grin on their faces, having already teased the two of them on the train ride back. In fact the only reason they were not still teasing Draco was because he was in a different house and they couldn't just sit at the Slytherin table to tease the poor boy, though it looked like Tracy was doing that for them.

"Wait, you danced with _Malfoy?!_ " a disgusted voice drew Harry and Neville's attention from Hermione. Actually the loud voice drew the attention of not only the two boys, but about half the Gryffindor table, as well as some from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Harry Neville and Hermione all turned equally scathing glares at one Ron Weasley. "Why would you dance with _Malfoy_ I mean, he hates your kind anyway." Gasps were heard all around the table, drawing attention from even more of those around the hall, even drawing the attention of some of the students at the far end of the Hall.

"If you must know, Ronald," Hermione said, her voice like ice, "he invited me, and it would be rude to refuse to dance with the one who escorted you." She lifted her head to give Ron a scathing look.

"He invited _you?_ " Ron was getting louder now, as well as ruder, if his tone was anything to go by. "Why would he invite you?" Gasps rang out from around the table, gaining the attention of even more people, including some of the students from Slytherin.

"He invited me because we are friends, and all our other friends were invited," Hermione snapped, whipping her head about in order to level a fierce glare at him.

"Who would be friends with _you?_ " Ron spat back. More people gasped and the beginnings of tears formed in the corners of Hermione's eyes. Harry and Neville began to rise up from where they sat, only to be restrained by Seamus and Dean, who happened to be sitting on either side of them.

Hermione gasped in, flustered and unable to think of a thing to say to that utterly rude boy, though she didn't have to, as at that moment a voice spoke up from behind her. "I am her friend, and so are Harry and Neville." Draco had walked up to the table in time to hear what Ron had said.

"You can't be her friend," Ron declared, loudly, drawing the attention of those who had not already been paying attention to the altercation at the Gryffindor table. "You slimy snakes hate her kind! You're only using her!"

"I didn't know you cared so much Weasley," Draco sneered at the boy sitting at the table before him. "From what I just heard, you insulted her, so why would you care who she calls a friend?"

Harry and Neville took this moment to break free from Seamus and Dean, not that it was that hard, since the two of them were gaping at the scene.

"He isn't using her, Ron," Harry spoke calmly, literally climbing over the table so as to join Hermione and Draco on the other side of the long table. Neville elected to stay where he was, though he did glare quite fiercely at Ron. "If anything he is helping tear down the walls built between our two worlds."

Ron opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by none other than Professor Dumbledore. "I commend Mister Malfoy for his honorable decision to put prejudices to the side and extend the Olive Branch to a student of another house and of different origins than yourself. For these actions I award you 10 points."

The Great Hall went into an uproar as Dumbledore walked back up to the staff table and Harry, Hermione, Neville and Draco shared a look, turning as a group and walking right out of the hall, knowing that there would be rouors started tomorrow about the whole situation.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready for some prank antics? Good.

**Dated January 6 th 1992**

Rumors had indeed sprung up in the wake of the newly revealed friendship of one Draco Malfoy and three Gryffindors, none of which the general populous of the school would not have expected Draco Malfoy to be friends with. After all, Hermione was a muggle-born, Harry Potter was ‘the boy-who-lived’, and many had thought that Neville would be a squib before he showed signs of accidental magic. People were even making bets on when Malfoy’s parents would either disown him or send him a howler or both.

“Completely childish of them, really,” Draco remarked to the other three, sitting with them in the kitchens in order to avoid the insanity that was the rumor mill of the Great Hall. “Obviously my parents knew about me taking you to the New Year’s Ball at the Davis’s house they did end up going to it after all.”

Hermione ignored him, wrapped up as she was in an advanced spell book. “Hmm, yes,” she said absentmindedly when Neville waved a hand in front of her book, absently attempting to swat him away. “Perhaps we could prank them?” she added, finally having swatted Neville’s hand away from her book. Three simultaneous gasps drew her attention away from her book.  “What?” Her brows furrowed in confusion as she took in the looks on the faces of the three boys.

“Did Hermione Granger really just say we should prank the school?” Harry was the one to ask, a grin breaking out across his face. “Miss I-Follow-All-The-Rules herself?” His grin grew as Hermione’s cheeks turned red. “How then, Miss Granger can we lowly knaves be of assistance for you?” Harry bowed low, grin still in place, the other boys following suit, each with their own wicked grins in place.

“Well…” Hermione stood, closing her book over her finger to keep her place. “First things first, we need to think of nicknames.” She held up her book, showing the cover to the boys. “I say we use muggle classical literature.” Harry grinned, looking at the image of a young girl falling through a rabbit hole. “And I think I have the perfect names for us all.”

**Dated January 8 th 1992**

Draco sat at the Slytherin table, completely ignoring the half assed attempts of his classmates at getting any information regarding his association with the ‘Gryffindor’s Golden Group’ – as the rest of the school had begun to call them. It was hardly any of their business anyway, and besides, today was the day that they were planning on pulling of their prank. He hid a smile at the thought of it, simply dishing himself out a plate of food, watching the rest of the hall as they began to eat their own meals. He watched as Harry walked into the hall, waving at a few people in the hall, himself included, subtlety giving him the signal that their plan was a go. He waited with baited breath, watching as the effects of the potion they had asked the house-elves to slip into the food took effect.

It started at the staff table with Dumbledore’s beard slowly turning a rather brilliant shade of lime green that clashed horribly with the purple ensemble he had chosen to war that day. Professors McGonagall and Snape had their hair slowly standing on end and looking like it was sparking. Others across the hall were finding that their hair was doing similar things. Draco himself was now sporting a frizzy puce colored hair do. They had made sure that they could not be blamed for the prank in any way shape or form by pranking themselves, also by making sure that the potion they used had had a time delay effect on it.

“Misters Wesley!” Professor McGonagall stood up from her spot, her eyes zeroing in on the Wesley twins where they were just now strolling into the hall. “What is the meaning of this?!” The infamous terror twins looked around the hall in as much confusion as anyone but the four co-conspirators. Hermione looked up from her book across the hall, seeming to be drawn in by the commotion going on around her. Her book was the second signal that they had prearranged, letting Draco know to tap the table in seeming annoyance. Right on cue, just as Professor McGonagall was looking like she was about to explode a school owl swooped into the hall, depositing a letter on Dumbledore’s head. The sight was so ridiculous that it stopped the impending explosion right in its tracks.

Dumbledore for his part only gave a small smile and a bit of food from his plate to the owl before taking the letter and opening it. The only indication that what he read was surprising was a single brow raising up from where it usually rested on his face. “Minerva, they are not to blame, not unless they have found two people to help and come up with some rather interesting nicknames.” Draco could swear that he heard Professor Snape groan at the mention of four pranksters, but dismissed it as his godfather would never do something like that. “We have those going by the names of ‘Hatter’, ‘White King’, ‘March Hare’ and ‘Red Queen’ to thank for this wonderful prank.” Dumbledore clapped his hands together and gave a beaming smile to the room around. “Now, since the prank has brought no harm to those around us, I say we eat the rest of our meals and hope that this blows over in the morning.” With that said the man sat back down and began eating again.

**Dated January 22 nd 1992**

Two weeks had passed since the advent of who some referred to as ‘the New Marauders’ with their grand prank on the entire Great Hall. Two weeks it had taken for the group of four first years to be cornered by the Wesley twins where they usually gathered in the kitchens. Two weeks it had taken the pranksters to figure out that it was this particular group of four that were the geniuses that pranked the entire school and got off scot free.

“So,” Fred said, leaning on the left side of the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.

“It was you four,” George picked up, leaning against the right side of the doorway, mirroring his twin as he did so.

“That pulled off that prank-“

“On the entire Great Hall?”

“And got away-“

“Free and clear?”

“So tell us-“

“Who thought of-“

“This most ingenious-“

“Prank?” They bounced the conversation back and forth between each other, possibly hoping to confuse the four first years before them.

For their part, the four looked entirely unimpressed with the twins. Harry and Neville were playing a game of chess, Hermione had her nose buried in a book and might not have even realized that the two were there, Draco was in the midst of making approximately one thousand paper cranes for some reason he refused to tell the other three. Without looking up from their tasks the three boys pointed at Hermione, who was still ignoring them all. Fred and George looked between them all, for once, entirely speechless.

“Teach us your ways oh wise one!” Fred and George kneeled on either side of Hermione, startling her out of her reading. She blinked in confusion at the dramatic boys to either side of her.

“What?” she asked after a few seconds still utterly confused much to the amusement of her three friends.

**Dated February 7 th 1992 8.39 am**

“Remind me again why we are doing this?” Draco asked as he and Harry helped to set up some buckets and streamers in a small unused classroom a few corridors away from the Gryffindor common room. “I mean I know why, but remind me why we decided this was a good idea?”

“Hermione said we needed to prank the twins,” Harry said offhand, examining the bucket in his hands for any leaks by holding it over Neville’s head.

Draco gave the other boy a look that spoke volumes as to what he thought about the ‘prank.’ Harry just smiled and shrugged. “And we need buckets of honey and colorful feathers because?” he gestured to the buckets with a packet of colorful crafting feathers.

Neville looked up from his own bucket waving Harry away from his head. “Hermione wants us to do a muggle prank. She’s gone to talk Peeves into helping us.”

“Right,” Draco said after a moment’s pause, going back to dumping colorful feathers in a bucket.

**Dated February 7 th 1992 6.32pm**

Dinner in the Great Hall was usually a rather dull affair, occasionally you would see some students from other houses sitting with their friends at tables other than their own. Such was the case this time with Harry, Hermione and Neville from Gryffindor, and Draco from Slytherin, the group of four having been invited to sit with Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot from Huffelpuff. The six of them were talking animatedly about their last herbology lesson - Neville preaching the merits of dragon dun fertilizer and Hermione preaching the Merits of modern muggle technology – when they were interrupted by a massive clanging from the direction of the Entrance Hall followed by mad cackling and twin shouts of “PEEVES!”

Feigning innocence and curiosity the four conspirators turned to face the doors to the hall. Fred and George stood there dripping honey and colorful feathers, sporting the most surprised and incredulous looks ever. A note fluttered to the ground, seemingly appearing from nowhere. Curiosity overrode the looks of incredulity and George leaned down to pick up the note. Breaking the seal caused a cloud of glitter to shower upon them, accompanied by a disembodied, unrecognizable voice to echo through the shocked hall. “Welcome to Wonderland,” it stated simply, before the note fluttered to the ground from a loose grip. The hall took that moment to burst into laughter, including the Weasly twins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed it, don't be afraid to leave Kudos and comments, they make me actually put effort into these after all

**Author's Note:**

> Harry and Mai will have more of a brother/sister relationship. Eventually there will be pairings, but they won't be for a long while and probably wont be that important. Note that like with my other works, this is also posted on ff.net


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